World Teach, Tutuila, American Samoa, July 31, 2008
My first ten days in American Samoa:
I could tell from the first day that this was going to be the adventure of my lifetime. I arrived in Los Angeles after a five hour flight from Miami and managed somehow to get my three huge bags into the courtesy van to the Doubletree Hotel. That afternoon and evening, I met the 18 other volunteers who would be embarking on this journey with me- coming from all over the US and one girl from Canada (and one Chinese-born American without citizenship). We all filed into the meeting with Noah, our program director who will be directing our group from the states while we are in Am Sam. Before the meeting and after arriving at the hotel, I ventured out on my own to find food in L.A. After walking several blocks- wide, spacious blocks, in gorgeous weather, I found a grocery store and bought soup and a sandwich, and duct tape at Walgreens to try to tape up my bag, whose zipper broke in Miami right before leaving for the airport.
The meeting with Noah was brief, but exciting. He told us that we didnt have our placements yet, but we did already know who was high school and who was primary/middle school. He didnt know much else, and we had too many questions to even start, so we all just sat and got to know each other, playing an ice-breaking game started by one of our volunteers. After that, I went to sleep, excited, nervous and content to be doing this.
This. This is something I have always wanted to do- volunteer abroad. I searched for two years for programs, and the second I saw the World Teach website, I knew I wanted to do this. I was immediately attracted to the South Pacific programs. It could be that it was the middle of winter in New York. It could be a million reasons, but I applied for Micronesia. That program was full and I was accepted to the American Samoa program. I had many doubts about the Am Sam program, but none at all that I would accept it. Ten days into it, I have no regrets and it was the best decision of my life. The rest of this journal entry details my life for the past week and a half here, which has felt like a lot longer.
Two plane rides later- one five hour ride from L.A. to Honolulu, a layover in Honolulu, and a five-hour ride from Honolulu to Pago Pago, American Samoa (pronounced officially Pongo Pongo), we all arrived sleepy and jet-lagged to what seemed to be a huge party at the airport. Landing on the island was the eeriest and most beautiful sight I have ever seen. The islands appeared through the clouds in the night like a ghost pirate ship on the open waters. Small black formations, bordered by small lights passed under us as we wondered which one was ours. As my uncle Steve had forewarned me, there were dancers waiting for us at the entry gate. It was all very surreal. That night, we landed safely at our school, Lupelele Elementary, which will be our home until August 20th, when we will split up to go to our respective schools on our respective islands and parts of the main island.
Lupelele Elementary: Located on the main island, Tutuila, our new home is a small school located in a quiet area just off the main road that loops around the island. We are 14 girls and 5 guys, with one girl joining us next weekend. The boys have their own room and their own shower. The 14 girls share two rooms and one real shower and one hose shower set up in a storage closet. There is only cold water. We sleep on mattresses on the floor with pretty sheets, about 4 feet apart. There is no air conditioning, but a beautiful breeze comes in every day and night. Its winter here, so the weather is great and even can be chilly at night. The school is actually a great place to live- a little inconvenient, but so much fun. We have a huge yard that separates us from the road, security guards that stay 24 hours, a cafeteria, a basketball court, and a small courtyard in front of the rooms. There is tons of room for us to be alone and also to hang out together. This past week has basically been like summer camp. We eat all meals together, cooked by the three sweetest ladies you will ever meet. We do all activities together. When we have free time, we play basketball games like Knockout (my new favorite game, and the most fun and intense game ever invented!), and drink beer and vodka cruisers at night playing card games, and go for walks during the day to the grocery store or to Turtle and Shark, a spot of legend here where waves crash up onto the rocks- truly beautiful. My group is the greatest group. I love them all and learn something new from each one of them every day. Im sad to split up from them at the end of this month. Every day here is fun and exciting. But back to the school. Our home (the compound) is infested with every type of creature you can imagine. They seem to come in shifts, rotating every few days. The first few days involved hundreds of tiny ants that were all over everyones bags and beds. They were annoying at first, but I grew to appreciate them fondly for their non-aggressive nature, when we started getting nightly visits from crickets, spiders and cockroaches. They sneak into peoples beds while they are sleeping. They run across the bathroom floors as you walk in. They scare the shit out of people. The head honcho of this week has been the rat. A single rat (we think) appears every night to play with a new set of us. It mostly hangs out in the girls room, but we dont know why. It scurries across the windows and around our beds, and across people while they are sleeping. We are awakened in the night with gasps (someone has the rat in their bed). Last night, it came to me and nibbled on my toe. I was half asleep luckily, and just shook it off without a second thought, as Ive become used to the bugs by now, and had already woken up several other times last night to the sounds of it scurrying just feet from my bed, praying that it wouldnt come my way. Something else crawled across my leg last night- not the rat- that I swept off- I dont even want to know what it was! Its all kind of funny, but will probably get old to everyone after a few weeks of living here. Roosters crow every morning before the crack of dawn. Luckily, I have learned to sleep through it. We are living at this elementary school this month because of the Pacific Arts Festival.
American Samoa: What an interesting place. Its almost too much to describe. They are currently hosting the arts festival, something that happens only every four years in some country in the Pacific. American Samoa has never hosted it, and could never again for years. We happen to be here these two weeks for it and I can say that it is like nothing I have ever seen, nor will ever see in my lifetime- we are so lucky to get to be a part of it. Representative groups from every conceivable island in the Pacific Ocean come here, bringing their native outfits and dances. They perform on different days and nights in the stadium, and various other places on the island. They walk around the streets in their colorful dresses and loin cloths and sing and dance. It is amazing. There are also booths set up in a huge circle where you can buy traditional crafts.
This is a culture which is an odd and interesting mix of an island culture and America. Buses zoom around the island either in one direction or the other (there is only one main road), blasting island pop music and zig-zagging next to the ocean on one side and the homes on the other. But the island is huge and takes hours to fully traverse. We still have not even seen the north and west sides of it! Dogs and chickens rule here. The chickens run around freely and mind their own business. There is a dog every few feet- they mostly hang out in packs or lay out in the sun on the side of every road, sidewalk and grassy knole. They mostly leave people alone, but are prone to chase after people at will. We were heavily warned about this before coming here. It is a huge problem here, that no one seems to want to try to fix. Maybe there is no solution other to spay and neuter the dogs. But they become wild. I believe they are all sweet at heart, but they are hungry. Apparently, they go up and live in the mountains and become wild, so that when they come back down they dont know any better than to attack people. I love them all and I feel really sorry for them all. I also have learned what to do when being chased! If you bend down and pretend to pick up a rock, they will stop and usually run away. If they dont stop, you should actually pick up a rock and throw it in their direction. This has almost always worked. Kyle, one of our guys, was out running the first day and was chased by a pack of them until a girl came running out of her house with a broom to scare them off. Its definitely something to be weary of while walking around, but like I said, for the most par t they leave you alone. The people here are amazing. They are friendly and nice, curious and hilarious. They are warmer and more generous than I am used to, having grown up in Miami and lived in such places as New York and Bourges. Im still adjusting. People here hang out outside their homes, and sometimes in their fales (flat pagoda-like structures). They talk and drink and mostly do nothing. They are mostly large, at least larger than us, and having a lot of problems with diabetes. Us being here is very unusual. They have had their share of foreign volunteers and visitors here, but still, a white person walking down the road gets beeped at by almost every car, accompanied by a friendly wave. We are a huge novelty here and a rare thing for them. Even I am starting to gawk at white people I see who are not a part of World Teach (like, what are they doing here?!). Things are slow-paced here, but not like I imagined they would be. People are mostly prompt, but have a definite island attitude. There are mini-marts all over the place and even a full grocery store (K.S. Mart) and a Cost-u-less (like Costco) within long walking distance of our home. We are definitely not lacking supplies and food! Walking down the streets here is like a scene out of a movie. Everyone is in their front yards either sitting or doing yard work, or the kids are playing (on summer vacation). Large American trucks roll by steadily all day on the main road, and everyone here rides in the back of pick-up trucks. Not only is it legal, but its SO much fun! Its my new favorite thing to do and Im thinking of moving to a place in the states where it is legal! At the same time, everyone here drives slowly. The bus system makes no sense. I am still not sure if a ride costs $1.00 or $1.50 and the routes dont match up day to day. The drivers seem to drop people off wherever on the road they can pull over, if requested, though there are also normal bus stops.
The scenes on the island are breathtaking. Every direction you turn, you can see either lush green mountains jutting up from the center of the island, or beautiful blue water with waves crashing up onto rocks or rolling smoothly into the beach. Its exactly what I pictured a Pacific island would look like, except more- something more and better. You can walk a few minutes and be spiraling up the mountainside through what seems to be a jungle with a path carved into it, usually by trucks or other cars. The weather right now is amazing. It is hot during the day, nice at night, mostly dry (it rained the first few days). The rain comes out of nowhere, like the dogs. It will be sunny and beautiful and all of the sudden start to downpour. But even on cloudy, rainy days, the island still has a beautiful feel to it. I think my pictures will do it more justice than I ever could through this journal. It is a conservative and heavily faith-based island, thanks to the missionaries who came many years ago. There are many different religions present. People wear everything below the knee. Every night at 6pm, people come out and ring bells (large empty painted oxygen tanks) to alert people that it is 6pm, time to be inside your houses. From 6 to 6:15 you have to stop what you are doing. You cant walk or move. Guards stand out on the streets to ensure that kids are home and not out and about. After that everyone eats dinner at home, and later on there is a 10:30-ish curfew (seems to change every night) and you are not technically supposed to be out past that. We as World Teachers are expected to respect these traditions and so far, have been.
Our job as teachers: This experience has already been the exact opposite of my first week in Bourges. I hate to compare the two, but arriving in France, I had almost no support. It was a cold, miserable town with unfriendly people and zero support from the department of education there. They didnt really care if we taught English there, and frankly, we didnt really care either. Here in Am Sam, we have been smothered by the department of education from day one, to make sure that we are happy- to teach us how to teach and what to do- to try to marry us off to Samoans so that we will stay more than a year here. They really need us- a huge teacher shortage has left many teachers over-extended. There is also a lack of math, science and English teachers here, which is where we come in. We are almost all math and science based, something that was advertised on the World Teach website, and the main reason I chose the South Pacific program. We will be grouped off into the various elementary/middle schools and high schools around the main island, and some of us will be living on the outer islands of Manua (three tiny, remote, isolated native islands a small plane ride away from Tutuila). I will be one of them, and I cannot wait to go! I will be teaching high school, most likely math classes and maybe science, on the island of Tau, in Manua. It is exactly the experience I wanted to have when I signed up for this program. I am bursting with excitement to move there and begin my life. Those of us going to Manua already know that, but none of the other volunteers know where they will be placed on the main island. The high schools are fairly far apart. On Manua, we will be living with host families, but that is really all we know right now. We may get to go visit next week to see where we will be living.
Manua is described by the locals here in several ways. They say it is one of the most beautiful places you will ever see. Remote and lined with beaches and palm trees. They say that all life was created on Manua. They say that you should not walk around after dark, because ghosts come out. It will be a different lifestyle for sure, but something I await with optimism and excitement. I also like the group of volunteers going out there with me. There will be one other volunteer, Kyle, at Manua High School with me. There is only one high school on the island, and apparently class sizes are extremely small, like 10 kids or less. I think we can do a lot there. English levels will vary, though, and English will inevitably incorporated into every lesson, no matter what subject. We will be full-time teachers and also expected (and cant wait to) be involved in any amount of extra-curricular activities that we choose. I already have several ideas- well see what I actually end up doing. For now, I just cant wait to teach, which is something that I never thought was possible. Maybe Im just excited to teach math and science. I love volunteering here and being a part of this inaugural year. We will be shaping the program for years and years of future World Teachers who will come to American Samoa after us. I think we can make a huge difference here. Our whole group is eager, of all different ages. Most are just out of college, but several are older than me. Most of us have lived in different places in the world, some more than others. Several have teaching experience (I was grouped with these). This month we are all conducting lessons to each other on how to teach and form lesson plans with our classes. I have learned so, so much this week about how to be a teachers; things I did not know and France and things I did wrong, and things I likely never would have learned that year. Every one of us brings our different and unique life experiences to this program. Yet, we all landed here on the shores of this tiny island in the South Pacific at the exact same time for the exact same reason. I feel a part of something huge, here. I have never felt this kind of excitement before for a project. These are the type of people I want to be like. I want to learn from them and have them here with me this year. Its all just so exciting, its hard to put into words, at least for me.
My first ten days here, day to day: Our first day was insane. Our field director, Kate, dropped us off in pairs around town with a scavenger hunt list. We had to find our way around, ask people, and buy certain things like Lava-Lavas (the sarong like skirts that everyone wears here). The first night, we were invited to go out to a bar with a live band. It was such a fantastic night! The band was awesome and played a lot of songs we all knew, but with their own island beat and spin on them. I jumped right into the dancing as usual and just basically danced for hours (as did everyone else) and had an awesome time. Everyone here drinks Vailima beer, but I stick with my usual vodka drinks. It felt like we were at a wedding, especially when the bang busted out with the electric slide! It was also a great icebreaker for our group. Saturday night we were invited to a traditional dinner being held to end the Pacific Educational Conference that had been held here the week before we arrived. The dinner was held on the edge of a beach, in tents adorned with palm frawns. It felt again like a wedding as a live band played incredibly and we were treated like royalty. People came up to us all night and thanked us for being here, and wished us good luck this year. The buffet was fantastic and we finally got to eat real food! Here at the school, we mostly eat cafeteria food for every meal. None of it is healthy, although they do try to give us well-balanced meals, at least. So, the corndogs, chicken nuggets, etc. are served with canned fruit and sometimes veggies. They are starting to accommodate the fact that several volunteers are vegetarians. I am really trying to watch what I eat this first month. But back to the buffet at the dinner. We got to try authentic Samoan food, which was all delicious. People load their plate here (which probably contributes to the diabetes and overweightness) with meats and rices, tarot roots and leave dishes, fish dishes, raw and cooked, and other delights. Sunday we all went to church together. Throughout every day we have gotten to see different things at the Arts Festival and also started to run errands like opening bank accounts, having Puletasis made (outfit women wear here, which we will wear sometimes while teaching), setting up cell phones, etc. Everything takes a long time to accomplish, mostly because its all spread out. We spent time this week at Utulei Beach, where the festival is going on. We have also gotten to swim at two other beaches. The water here is beautiful but very rocky.
Brush with death: Last week when we were swimming at the private beach of one of the educators, we got to experience and understand first hand that the currents, like the dogs here, are no joke. Several of us were swimming in an inlet formed next to the beach by a large rock formation directly in front of it. The current, sort of strong, but swimmable, runs steadily parallel to the beach. The rest of the group was up on the sand. We have been warned over and over again here about the strong currents, not to swim alone, etc. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, a small but very strong wave came rolling into the inlet and literally swept us all off of our feet and began dragging us swiftly to the left. I was terrified. I truly thought I was going to be swept out to sea, and I began swimming and running under water with all of my strength, digging my hands into the sand under the water. We all found our footing and were able to make it onto the beach unscathed. One of the volunteers, Rebekah, had been on the rocks and was being sort of swept away, so several of the guy volunteers went running into the water to grab her before she floated away. It was all pretty scary, to me at least; I think we werent really in any danger, but while its happening, its hard to know that.
Saturday morning, we went on a huge hike up Mt. Alava. It was the most intense hike Ive ever personally done, almost entirely uphill for about two hours. My legs were burning- it was like an evil Disney line. You go over a hill and see another huge hill. Of course, it was fun and worth it, although people in my group had to stop and wait for me several times (very nice of them!). The view from the top of the island was spectacular- you could see all of the bay and supposedly even dolphins down below. The hike was also muddy, which made coming back down hard as well. I slipped and fell after about five minutes, which was for the best, because once you fall the first time, you lose your fear of falling (as in jet-skiing or ice-skating). Im starting to make myself goals for this year- one of them will be to be able to hike like a normal person.
We are still in orientation, so most of our days are spent in teaching sessions or lesson planning- each of us has to present a lesson plan to the group. We also have started taking Samoan lessons. I take long walks every day with other volunteers, often to the K.S. Mart to stock up on unnecessary groceries. Ive started to refer to K.S. Mart as Disney World because its so exciting to go there. During longer breaks, we have gone into town on the bus to see the festival activities. Last night was the official closing ceremony, complete with an amazing fire-twirling dance and the most incredible and extensive fire-works display Ive seen to date in my life. Its weird to think what life here will be like without the Arts Festival- there is really not that much else to do. Our nightly grocery store walks are becoming habitual. Dealing with the rat has become a full-time funny job. Last night, I brought in a wonderful stray cat (very sweet) and rubbed it around our room. It stayed for awhile to be pet, then was chased away by an enormous dog. It came back later, but some of the volunteers heard a cat screaming last night in the middle of the night. Alofa (meaning love in Samoan) has not been back today and Im scared that it was eaten by a dog- I feel horrible that I brought it into our compound in the first place- it probably felt very safe here, and I truly feel badly. On another note, I have an apparition here- an orange tabby cat that runs across the basketball court in front of me every several days, at night. It never stops to play. Im pretty sure it is the ghost of my old childhood cat, Mackey, and its making me feel warm. I just wish it would stop to say hi once in awhile.
Dress: Our formal school outfits here are called Puletasis. Its hard to explain, but like a dress with a top and a skirt. They are tailor made. You go to a fabric store and choose whichever fabric youd like, and then take it to a sewing shop and have them create you these dresses. Some will be uniforms. Otherwise, we always have to wear skirts or shorts below the knee, or pants (just not to work). I walk around almost everywhere in sandals.
So, about two weeks have passed since our arrival on this island. Two weeks out of eleven months. I dont know what is in store for us here, but I will try to detail it in both my written journal and this online journal. I cant wait to see what every day here will bring, and I have a feeling every day will be different. I hope that we can leave footprints here that will benefit generations of American Samoan children and also many new groups of World Teach volunteers. So for now, I will just enjoy trying to adapt to this very different island life, and keep taking long walks and staring out at the Pacific Ocean. Tofa Soifua (Goodbye).
I could tell from the first day that this was going to be the adventure of my lifetime. I arrived in Los Angeles after a five hour flight from Miami and managed somehow to get my three huge bags into the courtesy van to the Doubletree Hotel. That afternoon and evening, I met the 18 other volunteers who would be embarking on this journey with me- coming from all over the US and one girl from Canada (and one Chinese-born American without citizenship). We all filed into the meeting with Noah, our program director who will be directing our group from the states while we are in Am Sam. Before the meeting and after arriving at the hotel, I ventured out on my own to find food in L.A. After walking several blocks- wide, spacious blocks, in gorgeous weather, I found a grocery store and bought soup and a sandwich, and duct tape at Walgreens to try to tape up my bag, whose zipper broke in Miami right before leaving for the airport.
The meeting with Noah was brief, but exciting. He told us that we didnt have our placements yet, but we did already know who was high school and who was primary/middle school. He didnt know much else, and we had too many questions to even start, so we all just sat and got to know each other, playing an ice-breaking game started by one of our volunteers. After that, I went to sleep, excited, nervous and content to be doing this.
This. This is something I have always wanted to do- volunteer abroad. I searched for two years for programs, and the second I saw the World Teach website, I knew I wanted to do this. I was immediately attracted to the South Pacific programs. It could be that it was the middle of winter in New York. It could be a million reasons, but I applied for Micronesia. That program was full and I was accepted to the American Samoa program. I had many doubts about the Am Sam program, but none at all that I would accept it. Ten days into it, I have no regrets and it was the best decision of my life. The rest of this journal entry details my life for the past week and a half here, which has felt like a lot longer.
Two plane rides later- one five hour ride from L.A. to Honolulu, a layover in Honolulu, and a five-hour ride from Honolulu to Pago Pago, American Samoa (pronounced officially Pongo Pongo), we all arrived sleepy and jet-lagged to what seemed to be a huge party at the airport. Landing on the island was the eeriest and most beautiful sight I have ever seen. The islands appeared through the clouds in the night like a ghost pirate ship on the open waters. Small black formations, bordered by small lights passed under us as we wondered which one was ours. As my uncle Steve had forewarned me, there were dancers waiting for us at the entry gate. It was all very surreal. That night, we landed safely at our school, Lupelele Elementary, which will be our home until August 20th, when we will split up to go to our respective schools on our respective islands and parts of the main island.
Lupelele Elementary: Located on the main island, Tutuila, our new home is a small school located in a quiet area just off the main road that loops around the island. We are 14 girls and 5 guys, with one girl joining us next weekend. The boys have their own room and their own shower. The 14 girls share two rooms and one real shower and one hose shower set up in a storage closet. There is only cold water. We sleep on mattresses on the floor with pretty sheets, about 4 feet apart. There is no air conditioning, but a beautiful breeze comes in every day and night. Its winter here, so the weather is great and even can be chilly at night. The school is actually a great place to live- a little inconvenient, but so much fun. We have a huge yard that separates us from the road, security guards that stay 24 hours, a cafeteria, a basketball court, and a small courtyard in front of the rooms. There is tons of room for us to be alone and also to hang out together. This past week has basically been like summer camp. We eat all meals together, cooked by the three sweetest ladies you will ever meet. We do all activities together. When we have free time, we play basketball games like Knockout (my new favorite game, and the most fun and intense game ever invented!), and drink beer and vodka cruisers at night playing card games, and go for walks during the day to the grocery store or to Turtle and Shark, a spot of legend here where waves crash up onto the rocks- truly beautiful. My group is the greatest group. I love them all and learn something new from each one of them every day. Im sad to split up from them at the end of this month. Every day here is fun and exciting. But back to the school. Our home (the compound) is infested with every type of creature you can imagine. They seem to come in shifts, rotating every few days. The first few days involved hundreds of tiny ants that were all over everyones bags and beds. They were annoying at first, but I grew to appreciate them fondly for their non-aggressive nature, when we started getting nightly visits from crickets, spiders and cockroaches. They sneak into peoples beds while they are sleeping. They run across the bathroom floors as you walk in. They scare the shit out of people. The head honcho of this week has been the rat. A single rat (we think) appears every night to play with a new set of us. It mostly hangs out in the girls room, but we dont know why. It scurries across the windows and around our beds, and across people while they are sleeping. We are awakened in the night with gasps (someone has the rat in their bed). Last night, it came to me and nibbled on my toe. I was half asleep luckily, and just shook it off without a second thought, as Ive become used to the bugs by now, and had already woken up several other times last night to the sounds of it scurrying just feet from my bed, praying that it wouldnt come my way. Something else crawled across my leg last night- not the rat- that I swept off- I dont even want to know what it was! Its all kind of funny, but will probably get old to everyone after a few weeks of living here. Roosters crow every morning before the crack of dawn. Luckily, I have learned to sleep through it. We are living at this elementary school this month because of the Pacific Arts Festival.
American Samoa: What an interesting place. Its almost too much to describe. They are currently hosting the arts festival, something that happens only every four years in some country in the Pacific. American Samoa has never hosted it, and could never again for years. We happen to be here these two weeks for it and I can say that it is like nothing I have ever seen, nor will ever see in my lifetime- we are so lucky to get to be a part of it. Representative groups from every conceivable island in the Pacific Ocean come here, bringing their native outfits and dances. They perform on different days and nights in the stadium, and various other places on the island. They walk around the streets in their colorful dresses and loin cloths and sing and dance. It is amazing. There are also booths set up in a huge circle where you can buy traditional crafts.
This is a culture which is an odd and interesting mix of an island culture and America. Buses zoom around the island either in one direction or the other (there is only one main road), blasting island pop music and zig-zagging next to the ocean on one side and the homes on the other. But the island is huge and takes hours to fully traverse. We still have not even seen the north and west sides of it! Dogs and chickens rule here. The chickens run around freely and mind their own business. There is a dog every few feet- they mostly hang out in packs or lay out in the sun on the side of every road, sidewalk and grassy knole. They mostly leave people alone, but are prone to chase after people at will. We were heavily warned about this before coming here. It is a huge problem here, that no one seems to want to try to fix. Maybe there is no solution other to spay and neuter the dogs. But they become wild. I believe they are all sweet at heart, but they are hungry. Apparently, they go up and live in the mountains and become wild, so that when they come back down they dont know any better than to attack people. I love them all and I feel really sorry for them all. I also have learned what to do when being chased! If you bend down and pretend to pick up a rock, they will stop and usually run away. If they dont stop, you should actually pick up a rock and throw it in their direction. This has almost always worked. Kyle, one of our guys, was out running the first day and was chased by a pack of them until a girl came running out of her house with a broom to scare them off. Its definitely something to be weary of while walking around, but like I said, for the most par t they leave you alone. The people here are amazing. They are friendly and nice, curious and hilarious. They are warmer and more generous than I am used to, having grown up in Miami and lived in such places as New York and Bourges. Im still adjusting. People here hang out outside their homes, and sometimes in their fales (flat pagoda-like structures). They talk and drink and mostly do nothing. They are mostly large, at least larger than us, and having a lot of problems with diabetes. Us being here is very unusual. They have had their share of foreign volunteers and visitors here, but still, a white person walking down the road gets beeped at by almost every car, accompanied by a friendly wave. We are a huge novelty here and a rare thing for them. Even I am starting to gawk at white people I see who are not a part of World Teach (like, what are they doing here?!). Things are slow-paced here, but not like I imagined they would be. People are mostly prompt, but have a definite island attitude. There are mini-marts all over the place and even a full grocery store (K.S. Mart) and a Cost-u-less (like Costco) within long walking distance of our home. We are definitely not lacking supplies and food! Walking down the streets here is like a scene out of a movie. Everyone is in their front yards either sitting or doing yard work, or the kids are playing (on summer vacation). Large American trucks roll by steadily all day on the main road, and everyone here rides in the back of pick-up trucks. Not only is it legal, but its SO much fun! Its my new favorite thing to do and Im thinking of moving to a place in the states where it is legal! At the same time, everyone here drives slowly. The bus system makes no sense. I am still not sure if a ride costs $1.00 or $1.50 and the routes dont match up day to day. The drivers seem to drop people off wherever on the road they can pull over, if requested, though there are also normal bus stops.
The scenes on the island are breathtaking. Every direction you turn, you can see either lush green mountains jutting up from the center of the island, or beautiful blue water with waves crashing up onto rocks or rolling smoothly into the beach. Its exactly what I pictured a Pacific island would look like, except more- something more and better. You can walk a few minutes and be spiraling up the mountainside through what seems to be a jungle with a path carved into it, usually by trucks or other cars. The weather right now is amazing. It is hot during the day, nice at night, mostly dry (it rained the first few days). The rain comes out of nowhere, like the dogs. It will be sunny and beautiful and all of the sudden start to downpour. But even on cloudy, rainy days, the island still has a beautiful feel to it. I think my pictures will do it more justice than I ever could through this journal. It is a conservative and heavily faith-based island, thanks to the missionaries who came many years ago. There are many different religions present. People wear everything below the knee. Every night at 6pm, people come out and ring bells (large empty painted oxygen tanks) to alert people that it is 6pm, time to be inside your houses. From 6 to 6:15 you have to stop what you are doing. You cant walk or move. Guards stand out on the streets to ensure that kids are home and not out and about. After that everyone eats dinner at home, and later on there is a 10:30-ish curfew (seems to change every night) and you are not technically supposed to be out past that. We as World Teachers are expected to respect these traditions and so far, have been.
Our job as teachers: This experience has already been the exact opposite of my first week in Bourges. I hate to compare the two, but arriving in France, I had almost no support. It was a cold, miserable town with unfriendly people and zero support from the department of education there. They didnt really care if we taught English there, and frankly, we didnt really care either. Here in Am Sam, we have been smothered by the department of education from day one, to make sure that we are happy- to teach us how to teach and what to do- to try to marry us off to Samoans so that we will stay more than a year here. They really need us- a huge teacher shortage has left many teachers over-extended. There is also a lack of math, science and English teachers here, which is where we come in. We are almost all math and science based, something that was advertised on the World Teach website, and the main reason I chose the South Pacific program. We will be grouped off into the various elementary/middle schools and high schools around the main island, and some of us will be living on the outer islands of Manua (three tiny, remote, isolated native islands a small plane ride away from Tutuila). I will be one of them, and I cannot wait to go! I will be teaching high school, most likely math classes and maybe science, on the island of Tau, in Manua. It is exactly the experience I wanted to have when I signed up for this program. I am bursting with excitement to move there and begin my life. Those of us going to Manua already know that, but none of the other volunteers know where they will be placed on the main island. The high schools are fairly far apart. On Manua, we will be living with host families, but that is really all we know right now. We may get to go visit next week to see where we will be living.
Manua is described by the locals here in several ways. They say it is one of the most beautiful places you will ever see. Remote and lined with beaches and palm trees. They say that all life was created on Manua. They say that you should not walk around after dark, because ghosts come out. It will be a different lifestyle for sure, but something I await with optimism and excitement. I also like the group of volunteers going out there with me. There will be one other volunteer, Kyle, at Manua High School with me. There is only one high school on the island, and apparently class sizes are extremely small, like 10 kids or less. I think we can do a lot there. English levels will vary, though, and English will inevitably incorporated into every lesson, no matter what subject. We will be full-time teachers and also expected (and cant wait to) be involved in any amount of extra-curricular activities that we choose. I already have several ideas- well see what I actually end up doing. For now, I just cant wait to teach, which is something that I never thought was possible. Maybe Im just excited to teach math and science. I love volunteering here and being a part of this inaugural year. We will be shaping the program for years and years of future World Teachers who will come to American Samoa after us. I think we can make a huge difference here. Our whole group is eager, of all different ages. Most are just out of college, but several are older than me. Most of us have lived in different places in the world, some more than others. Several have teaching experience (I was grouped with these). This month we are all conducting lessons to each other on how to teach and form lesson plans with our classes. I have learned so, so much this week about how to be a teachers; things I did not know and France and things I did wrong, and things I likely never would have learned that year. Every one of us brings our different and unique life experiences to this program. Yet, we all landed here on the shores of this tiny island in the South Pacific at the exact same time for the exact same reason. I feel a part of something huge, here. I have never felt this kind of excitement before for a project. These are the type of people I want to be like. I want to learn from them and have them here with me this year. Its all just so exciting, its hard to put into words, at least for me.
My first ten days here, day to day: Our first day was insane. Our field director, Kate, dropped us off in pairs around town with a scavenger hunt list. We had to find our way around, ask people, and buy certain things like Lava-Lavas (the sarong like skirts that everyone wears here). The first night, we were invited to go out to a bar with a live band. It was such a fantastic night! The band was awesome and played a lot of songs we all knew, but with their own island beat and spin on them. I jumped right into the dancing as usual and just basically danced for hours (as did everyone else) and had an awesome time. Everyone here drinks Vailima beer, but I stick with my usual vodka drinks. It felt like we were at a wedding, especially when the bang busted out with the electric slide! It was also a great icebreaker for our group. Saturday night we were invited to a traditional dinner being held to end the Pacific Educational Conference that had been held here the week before we arrived. The dinner was held on the edge of a beach, in tents adorned with palm frawns. It felt again like a wedding as a live band played incredibly and we were treated like royalty. People came up to us all night and thanked us for being here, and wished us good luck this year. The buffet was fantastic and we finally got to eat real food! Here at the school, we mostly eat cafeteria food for every meal. None of it is healthy, although they do try to give us well-balanced meals, at least. So, the corndogs, chicken nuggets, etc. are served with canned fruit and sometimes veggies. They are starting to accommodate the fact that several volunteers are vegetarians. I am really trying to watch what I eat this first month. But back to the buffet at the dinner. We got to try authentic Samoan food, which was all delicious. People load their plate here (which probably contributes to the diabetes and overweightness) with meats and rices, tarot roots and leave dishes, fish dishes, raw and cooked, and other delights. Sunday we all went to church together. Throughout every day we have gotten to see different things at the Arts Festival and also started to run errands like opening bank accounts, having Puletasis made (outfit women wear here, which we will wear sometimes while teaching), setting up cell phones, etc. Everything takes a long time to accomplish, mostly because its all spread out. We spent time this week at Utulei Beach, where the festival is going on. We have also gotten to swim at two other beaches. The water here is beautiful but very rocky.
Brush with death: Last week when we were swimming at the private beach of one of the educators, we got to experience and understand first hand that the currents, like the dogs here, are no joke. Several of us were swimming in an inlet formed next to the beach by a large rock formation directly in front of it. The current, sort of strong, but swimmable, runs steadily parallel to the beach. The rest of the group was up on the sand. We have been warned over and over again here about the strong currents, not to swim alone, etc. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, a small but very strong wave came rolling into the inlet and literally swept us all off of our feet and began dragging us swiftly to the left. I was terrified. I truly thought I was going to be swept out to sea, and I began swimming and running under water with all of my strength, digging my hands into the sand under the water. We all found our footing and were able to make it onto the beach unscathed. One of the volunteers, Rebekah, had been on the rocks and was being sort of swept away, so several of the guy volunteers went running into the water to grab her before she floated away. It was all pretty scary, to me at least; I think we werent really in any danger, but while its happening, its hard to know that.
Saturday morning, we went on a huge hike up Mt. Alava. It was the most intense hike Ive ever personally done, almost entirely uphill for about two hours. My legs were burning- it was like an evil Disney line. You go over a hill and see another huge hill. Of course, it was fun and worth it, although people in my group had to stop and wait for me several times (very nice of them!). The view from the top of the island was spectacular- you could see all of the bay and supposedly even dolphins down below. The hike was also muddy, which made coming back down hard as well. I slipped and fell after about five minutes, which was for the best, because once you fall the first time, you lose your fear of falling (as in jet-skiing or ice-skating). Im starting to make myself goals for this year- one of them will be to be able to hike like a normal person.
We are still in orientation, so most of our days are spent in teaching sessions or lesson planning- each of us has to present a lesson plan to the group. We also have started taking Samoan lessons. I take long walks every day with other volunteers, often to the K.S. Mart to stock up on unnecessary groceries. Ive started to refer to K.S. Mart as Disney World because its so exciting to go there. During longer breaks, we have gone into town on the bus to see the festival activities. Last night was the official closing ceremony, complete with an amazing fire-twirling dance and the most incredible and extensive fire-works display Ive seen to date in my life. Its weird to think what life here will be like without the Arts Festival- there is really not that much else to do. Our nightly grocery store walks are becoming habitual. Dealing with the rat has become a full-time funny job. Last night, I brought in a wonderful stray cat (very sweet) and rubbed it around our room. It stayed for awhile to be pet, then was chased away by an enormous dog. It came back later, but some of the volunteers heard a cat screaming last night in the middle of the night. Alofa (meaning love in Samoan) has not been back today and Im scared that it was eaten by a dog- I feel horrible that I brought it into our compound in the first place- it probably felt very safe here, and I truly feel badly. On another note, I have an apparition here- an orange tabby cat that runs across the basketball court in front of me every several days, at night. It never stops to play. Im pretty sure it is the ghost of my old childhood cat, Mackey, and its making me feel warm. I just wish it would stop to say hi once in awhile.
Dress: Our formal school outfits here are called Puletasis. Its hard to explain, but like a dress with a top and a skirt. They are tailor made. You go to a fabric store and choose whichever fabric youd like, and then take it to a sewing shop and have them create you these dresses. Some will be uniforms. Otherwise, we always have to wear skirts or shorts below the knee, or pants (just not to work). I walk around almost everywhere in sandals.
So, about two weeks have passed since our arrival on this island. Two weeks out of eleven months. I dont know what is in store for us here, but I will try to detail it in both my written journal and this online journal. I cant wait to see what every day here will bring, and I have a feeling every day will be different. I hope that we can leave footprints here that will benefit generations of American Samoan children and also many new groups of World Teach volunteers. So for now, I will just enjoy trying to adapt to this very different island life, and keep taking long walks and staring out at the Pacific Ocean. Tofa Soifua (Goodbye).