The downhill roll
After 16 weeks of teaching four different math subjects, dealing with students and administrators, first-semester midterms, student discipline issues, and adjustments to this island life, we four volunteers out here in Manu’a finally reached winter break. This break was something I had been dreaming about for months… hoping it would come sooner… because somehow it would mean that the program would be half-over. We have now been here five and a half months, which I think is an accomplishment in all of our lives. We have survived crazy adventures and a different universe, sustaining only minor injuries and illnesses.
Friday, December 19th, we said unpredictably sad goodbyes to our students, and boarded the usual 16-seater which flew us literally through the clouds away from our small rock, towards the big rock, Tutuila (Pago Pago). After a brief night spent there, five of us (Nell, Evan, Kyle, Andrew, and I) boarded another flight… slightly larger… to Apia, Western Samoa (now called just Samoa). The flight was only 40 minutes, and we were literally leaving one Samoa for another, but where we were headed was a world away from where we were leaving. Flying over Upolu (the island), the green mountains stretched forever… Samoa is significantly larger than Western Samoa, and different in so many other ways. Apia, the capital, is a vacation destination for New Zealanders (NZ once had control over Samoa for many years) and there is much Kiwi influence to be seen all around. The center of the city, by the bay, is very Westernized. Restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and small shops line the streets. There is a stone boardwalk stretching for miles along the peninsula harbor. The restaurants actually serve healthy options, and there are fresh fruits and vegetables to be found all over the island! The people there (guys and girls alike) are gorgeous and generally thinner. Yes, there are sketchy times to be out on the street, when the third-world-ness rears it’s head. But mostly, it was just a pleasant and beautiful place to be, and walk around.
We stayed at Treasure Garden, a small and fairly unknown hotel, located near the famous market. We had clean rooms, air conditioning, TVs (though ours was broken), and hot water showers… all things I have not had in 5 months. Located downstairs was a great Chinese restaurant. I shared a room with two others, and only personally paid $10 a night! From our hotel, we could walk no more than 25 minutes to every downtown place we might want to see. Downtown Apia is actually very small, relative to the rest of the island. On our first day there, Sunday, everything was closed, so we just walked and walked for hours, exploring, up and down the harbor boardwalk. Sunday night, we ate a great dinner and sipped fruity cocktails at the Hotel Kitano, an upscale hotel, the likes of which us volunteers could never afford… but it was nice to be there and toast our much-needed break from Manu’a life. Also Sunday, I found places that sold fruit smoothies, something that’s going to be hard to live without for another five months!
Monday, we went to the market to buy a fat pig. Not really, but I’m sure we could have found one roasting if we had wanted one. Oh, the market! Stands upon stands of cheap, beautiful crafts… earrings galore. I bought about 80% of all of the gifts I will be getting people this year at that market, over the course of our seven days in Apia. After that, we walked down to the Palolo Deepwater Marine Reserve, a tiny beach-front sand area, leading to a huge snorkeling area that goes way out into the ocean. The first 10 minutes of swimming out from the shore are nothing… ocean weeds and murky waters… I had given up and already swum back, when some others finally found the amazing spot. About a 15 minute swim out, the sand begins to drop off and slope deeply down… that is where the fish hang out, apparently. I went back out by myself, and after hitting the drop-off point, immediately got an eerie feeling, started to get scared at the silence and floor depth, and swam furiously back to shore. Still, it was very cool to see and I’m glad I went back out. Dinner Monday night at the Chinese restaurant. Tuesday we tried to go for a tour at the Vailima Beer Brewery, Samoa’s own beer, which is widely distributed and guzzled in American Samoa as well, quite often by our students next door to our house. They no longer give tours, so we left and went to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, and former house. Stevenson spent several years in Samoa and really became a part of the culture. Seeing his house was fascinating. I have only read Treasure Island, but I happened to read it a few months ago, so a photo of his young son in the house reminded me of a possible muse for the great Jim Hawkins? The grounds surrounding the house were perhaps the best part of it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever come across such a peaceful place… a huge grassy courtyard with almost no sound, with trees and flowers lining the area. We took the 40 minute hike up the mountain to where he was buried. His gravestone overlooks a gorgeous view of the bay and the mountains of Upolu. We ate our second lunch at Paddles, an incredible restaurant we found in town that served real, healthy food, sandwiches, salads, etc.!
Thanks to Evan’s initiative, we rented a car on Wednesday for three days to really see the island. So, we spent Xmas Eve driving around the beautiful rolling hills of Upolu. Words cannot describe what I saw from my car window… I was literally mesmerized by the beauty of Samoa. The streets are clean. Beautiful Western-style homes line every street for miles and miles, amidst the trees and grassy areas. Traditional Samoan fales (gazebo-like structures) can be found in every front yard, and you can tell that people really use them and sleep in them… some have beds… most are very decorated. There are miles of flat stretches, but which overlook mountains of lush green. A family of cute pigs crossed in front of our car. We saw cows and chickens. The dogs seem well-fed and happier… less mangy at least. There are beach villages, and villages nowhere near the main part of town. Our first stop on Wednesday were the Piula Cave Pools… a very small cave pool with the arctic temperatures of Venetian Pool in Miami (thank you dad, for the preparation!). Once inside the small cave, you have to dive underwater to find the tiny opening, not much bigger than a human can fit through, that leads to an even smaller cave pool. The guys bravely went through, and then I finally did. It’s a short swim through the under-water passage… no more than a few feet. In fact, you could probably have your hands in one pool and your feet in the other. Still, I freaked out while half-way through! I thought I was going to get stuck, so I thrashed my legs and pushed myself forward, relieved to come up on the other side for air. The whole thing probably took about ten seconds, but it felt like longer. I was very happy to have done it, even with the minor scratches on my legs from the thrashing. We then drove to the Ocean Trench, a humungous hole in the earth filled with water from the ocean. The people who own the land built a sturdy wooden ladder that descends into the abyss, down into the beautiful pool below. It’s breathtaking and swimmable, like a lagoon once you are down below. A picture is worth a thousand words with this place… and I’m not even sure my pictures do it justice! Oh, and yet another under water passage! The guys found the passage and decided to explore it, not knowing what they would find on the other end (possibly a dead end). I panicked as one by one, they swam under and into the supposedly truck-sized tunnel. I swore they wouldn’t return and I would have to explain to the Manu’a kids what happened to their science department. But, as it turns out, they did return, and the tunnel leads straight out to the ocean! They said it was only a 30 second swim… yeah right, like I would ever try that! I did get to take photos of them on the ocean-side, and it was pretty cool. They are brave souls. Xmas Eve night in Samoa is one of the biggest going out nights of the year. Every family attends church until midnight, then the young people head to the one main street of bars and clubs. It wasn’t crazy, though, and it was so, so nice to be out having drinks at a bar… something we cannot do in Manu’a, and just being out with friends. Xmas day, everything was closed again, save for our lunch restaurant, Bistro Tatau, which served us an expensive five-course ,meal. The small restaurant was full with Kiwi or Australian families on holiday, with their droves of cute kids running around the restaurant. There was something very nice about being around families on Xmas day.
Our last day, Friday, we took the rental car for one last long road trip around the hills, ending up at Lalumanu Beach, an oasis for us this year. A popular beach among the locals and tourists alike, there were white sand beaches and actually lots of people swimming there. We rented a beach fale for $20 (for the whole day!), and just snorkeled and swam, read and lazed around on the beach. We ate lunch at the nearby motel/restaurants. I finally saw the snorkeling I had wanted to see this whole year so far… schools of fish, coral, everything. It was a perfect, and very relaxing day. Saturday morning, I had my last fruit smoothie of the year, and we boarded a plane back to Pago Pago, American Samoa sometime in the early afternoon.
Spending a week in Pago was great… lots of people give it crap, but I like it. Sure, the streets are littered with garbage, and I can’t walk down the street without getting whistled at, kissed at, honked at, or “hey, babied!” but I really like it there. It’s always a nice break from Manu’a, with restaurants, movie theatres, and other volunteer friends to catch up with. With most of the volunteers home in America for winter break, however, I ended up spending most of my time at McDonalds and Carl’s Jr., which is like an upscale fast food restaurant that serves amazing chicken sandwiches on whole wheat buns, and friendly smiles at the counter… they even bring your orders to your table! Apparently, it is a California chain… more of a reason for me to become a West coaster soon! I did over-dose on fast food this past week, but it’s only because in Manu’a there are no restaurants and I cook pretty healthy meals every night. Which, I’m happy to do, but it’s hard not to crave the convenience of fast food. The funny thing is, in the states, I never, ever eat McDonalds… but in Am Sam? It’s become an oasis for us Palagi’s (white people)… a place with air conditioning and real bathrooms, salads, and convenience. It’s hard to stay away, when on Pago. Other than eating too much, I spent the majority of my week walking around, running errands, having dresses made to bring back with me in June, catching up with any straggling volunteers who did not get to go home for break, and just enjoying the time away from school. I took a short walk up to see World War II cannons with my friend Ming-Ming. I attended the Samoa Bowl with Kara and Brandi… the Samoa Bowl is a yearly event where the best high school football players from Hawaii come to Am Sam to play the best from here. It was a fun experience! I got to spend some time with Brandi’s dad… he flew in for a week and a half to see what his daughter has been up to here in the middle of the South Pacific. He’s adjusting like a pro and apparently really loves this place! I got to see him wearing a traditional Samoan lavalava (skirt/sarong) and practicing his Samoan words. I even got to go kayaking off of Utulei Beach with Kara… we rented individual kayaks, and paddled out as far as we could, until the waves got rocky and the wind picked up, and then we turned around and fought the wind back to shore. It was awesome! I spent New Year’s Eve 2008 in a pool, at a party thrown by one of the resident Palagi’s. I got to meet the whole Palagi group… engineers, lawyers, etc., who are here for one or several years working. They tend to stick together, here. It was a fun night, as we swam and counted down New Year’s in Boston/NYC, Los Angeles, Hawaii, and finally American Samoa. I had the longest 2008 of anyone I know… Am Sam is on the very tail end of the world time zones.
And now, back in Manu’a, how do I feel? I feel good. The weighted has shifted… the feelings have mostly lifted. We are now counting down to June… about five months exactly until I board my flight to Honolulu to meet my mom. I still think about June, but not like before. I needed winter break to come, and it did. And by the end? I missed my students, and was ready to come back and tackle first-semester final exams, then second semester, which starts in two weeks. I feel like I can finally enjoy myself here, without constantly dwelling on the number of months remaining. Time has been flying lately. I think that the next few months will fly, and then all of the sudden it will be mid-April… Sping break… then only a month and a half left until June! It’s kind of crazy. I miss my family, and really can’t wait to see them. For now, I have the fact that I’m planning a huge trip with them for June. I cannot wait! I also have Spring break to plan, and tons of finals to write, and lesson planning to keep me busy, and DVDs to watch, and books to read, and veggie chili to cook. I feel good about being here.
Winter break was amazing. It was two and a half weeks that felt like a month. I was worlds away from my students and my life in Manu’a. I missed my students sometimes. I missed Manu’a sometimes. But it was a perfect and relaxing getaway. I got to see a Samoa that American Samoa probably was before Americanization. I got to see other friends. I got to eat salads and fruit smoothies, and see movies, and walk on flat ground for long periods of time. It was fantastic. I’m planning on returning to Western Samoa, hopefully this year, but if not, in future years. And I’m tackling second semester focusing mainly on work and trying to be a better teacher, and also not let things get to me as much in school. I don’t have much to say right now about 2008… it was an amazing year, filled with New York memories, my last months at the USAO, which I will miss forever, and now this new adventure. I am happy it’s 2009 and am hoping it will be a great one! I mostly measure my life at my birthdays, so New Year’s feels more like a milestone than anything else. Here’s to 2009.
Friday, December 19th, we said unpredictably sad goodbyes to our students, and boarded the usual 16-seater which flew us literally through the clouds away from our small rock, towards the big rock, Tutuila (Pago Pago). After a brief night spent there, five of us (Nell, Evan, Kyle, Andrew, and I) boarded another flight… slightly larger… to Apia, Western Samoa (now called just Samoa). The flight was only 40 minutes, and we were literally leaving one Samoa for another, but where we were headed was a world away from where we were leaving. Flying over Upolu (the island), the green mountains stretched forever… Samoa is significantly larger than Western Samoa, and different in so many other ways. Apia, the capital, is a vacation destination for New Zealanders (NZ once had control over Samoa for many years) and there is much Kiwi influence to be seen all around. The center of the city, by the bay, is very Westernized. Restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and small shops line the streets. There is a stone boardwalk stretching for miles along the peninsula harbor. The restaurants actually serve healthy options, and there are fresh fruits and vegetables to be found all over the island! The people there (guys and girls alike) are gorgeous and generally thinner. Yes, there are sketchy times to be out on the street, when the third-world-ness rears it’s head. But mostly, it was just a pleasant and beautiful place to be, and walk around.
We stayed at Treasure Garden, a small and fairly unknown hotel, located near the famous market. We had clean rooms, air conditioning, TVs (though ours was broken), and hot water showers… all things I have not had in 5 months. Located downstairs was a great Chinese restaurant. I shared a room with two others, and only personally paid $10 a night! From our hotel, we could walk no more than 25 minutes to every downtown place we might want to see. Downtown Apia is actually very small, relative to the rest of the island. On our first day there, Sunday, everything was closed, so we just walked and walked for hours, exploring, up and down the harbor boardwalk. Sunday night, we ate a great dinner and sipped fruity cocktails at the Hotel Kitano, an upscale hotel, the likes of which us volunteers could never afford… but it was nice to be there and toast our much-needed break from Manu’a life. Also Sunday, I found places that sold fruit smoothies, something that’s going to be hard to live without for another five months!
Monday, we went to the market to buy a fat pig. Not really, but I’m sure we could have found one roasting if we had wanted one. Oh, the market! Stands upon stands of cheap, beautiful crafts… earrings galore. I bought about 80% of all of the gifts I will be getting people this year at that market, over the course of our seven days in Apia. After that, we walked down to the Palolo Deepwater Marine Reserve, a tiny beach-front sand area, leading to a huge snorkeling area that goes way out into the ocean. The first 10 minutes of swimming out from the shore are nothing… ocean weeds and murky waters… I had given up and already swum back, when some others finally found the amazing spot. About a 15 minute swim out, the sand begins to drop off and slope deeply down… that is where the fish hang out, apparently. I went back out by myself, and after hitting the drop-off point, immediately got an eerie feeling, started to get scared at the silence and floor depth, and swam furiously back to shore. Still, it was very cool to see and I’m glad I went back out. Dinner Monday night at the Chinese restaurant. Tuesday we tried to go for a tour at the Vailima Beer Brewery, Samoa’s own beer, which is widely distributed and guzzled in American Samoa as well, quite often by our students next door to our house. They no longer give tours, so we left and went to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, and former house. Stevenson spent several years in Samoa and really became a part of the culture. Seeing his house was fascinating. I have only read Treasure Island, but I happened to read it a few months ago, so a photo of his young son in the house reminded me of a possible muse for the great Jim Hawkins? The grounds surrounding the house were perhaps the best part of it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever come across such a peaceful place… a huge grassy courtyard with almost no sound, with trees and flowers lining the area. We took the 40 minute hike up the mountain to where he was buried. His gravestone overlooks a gorgeous view of the bay and the mountains of Upolu. We ate our second lunch at Paddles, an incredible restaurant we found in town that served real, healthy food, sandwiches, salads, etc.!
Thanks to Evan’s initiative, we rented a car on Wednesday for three days to really see the island. So, we spent Xmas Eve driving around the beautiful rolling hills of Upolu. Words cannot describe what I saw from my car window… I was literally mesmerized by the beauty of Samoa. The streets are clean. Beautiful Western-style homes line every street for miles and miles, amidst the trees and grassy areas. Traditional Samoan fales (gazebo-like structures) can be found in every front yard, and you can tell that people really use them and sleep in them… some have beds… most are very decorated. There are miles of flat stretches, but which overlook mountains of lush green. A family of cute pigs crossed in front of our car. We saw cows and chickens. The dogs seem well-fed and happier… less mangy at least. There are beach villages, and villages nowhere near the main part of town. Our first stop on Wednesday were the Piula Cave Pools… a very small cave pool with the arctic temperatures of Venetian Pool in Miami (thank you dad, for the preparation!). Once inside the small cave, you have to dive underwater to find the tiny opening, not much bigger than a human can fit through, that leads to an even smaller cave pool. The guys bravely went through, and then I finally did. It’s a short swim through the under-water passage… no more than a few feet. In fact, you could probably have your hands in one pool and your feet in the other. Still, I freaked out while half-way through! I thought I was going to get stuck, so I thrashed my legs and pushed myself forward, relieved to come up on the other side for air. The whole thing probably took about ten seconds, but it felt like longer. I was very happy to have done it, even with the minor scratches on my legs from the thrashing. We then drove to the Ocean Trench, a humungous hole in the earth filled with water from the ocean. The people who own the land built a sturdy wooden ladder that descends into the abyss, down into the beautiful pool below. It’s breathtaking and swimmable, like a lagoon once you are down below. A picture is worth a thousand words with this place… and I’m not even sure my pictures do it justice! Oh, and yet another under water passage! The guys found the passage and decided to explore it, not knowing what they would find on the other end (possibly a dead end). I panicked as one by one, they swam under and into the supposedly truck-sized tunnel. I swore they wouldn’t return and I would have to explain to the Manu’a kids what happened to their science department. But, as it turns out, they did return, and the tunnel leads straight out to the ocean! They said it was only a 30 second swim… yeah right, like I would ever try that! I did get to take photos of them on the ocean-side, and it was pretty cool. They are brave souls. Xmas Eve night in Samoa is one of the biggest going out nights of the year. Every family attends church until midnight, then the young people head to the one main street of bars and clubs. It wasn’t crazy, though, and it was so, so nice to be out having drinks at a bar… something we cannot do in Manu’a, and just being out with friends. Xmas day, everything was closed again, save for our lunch restaurant, Bistro Tatau, which served us an expensive five-course ,meal. The small restaurant was full with Kiwi or Australian families on holiday, with their droves of cute kids running around the restaurant. There was something very nice about being around families on Xmas day.
Our last day, Friday, we took the rental car for one last long road trip around the hills, ending up at Lalumanu Beach, an oasis for us this year. A popular beach among the locals and tourists alike, there were white sand beaches and actually lots of people swimming there. We rented a beach fale for $20 (for the whole day!), and just snorkeled and swam, read and lazed around on the beach. We ate lunch at the nearby motel/restaurants. I finally saw the snorkeling I had wanted to see this whole year so far… schools of fish, coral, everything. It was a perfect, and very relaxing day. Saturday morning, I had my last fruit smoothie of the year, and we boarded a plane back to Pago Pago, American Samoa sometime in the early afternoon.
Spending a week in Pago was great… lots of people give it crap, but I like it. Sure, the streets are littered with garbage, and I can’t walk down the street without getting whistled at, kissed at, honked at, or “hey, babied!” but I really like it there. It’s always a nice break from Manu’a, with restaurants, movie theatres, and other volunteer friends to catch up with. With most of the volunteers home in America for winter break, however, I ended up spending most of my time at McDonalds and Carl’s Jr., which is like an upscale fast food restaurant that serves amazing chicken sandwiches on whole wheat buns, and friendly smiles at the counter… they even bring your orders to your table! Apparently, it is a California chain… more of a reason for me to become a West coaster soon! I did over-dose on fast food this past week, but it’s only because in Manu’a there are no restaurants and I cook pretty healthy meals every night. Which, I’m happy to do, but it’s hard not to crave the convenience of fast food. The funny thing is, in the states, I never, ever eat McDonalds… but in Am Sam? It’s become an oasis for us Palagi’s (white people)… a place with air conditioning and real bathrooms, salads, and convenience. It’s hard to stay away, when on Pago. Other than eating too much, I spent the majority of my week walking around, running errands, having dresses made to bring back with me in June, catching up with any straggling volunteers who did not get to go home for break, and just enjoying the time away from school. I took a short walk up to see World War II cannons with my friend Ming-Ming. I attended the Samoa Bowl with Kara and Brandi… the Samoa Bowl is a yearly event where the best high school football players from Hawaii come to Am Sam to play the best from here. It was a fun experience! I got to spend some time with Brandi’s dad… he flew in for a week and a half to see what his daughter has been up to here in the middle of the South Pacific. He’s adjusting like a pro and apparently really loves this place! I got to see him wearing a traditional Samoan lavalava (skirt/sarong) and practicing his Samoan words. I even got to go kayaking off of Utulei Beach with Kara… we rented individual kayaks, and paddled out as far as we could, until the waves got rocky and the wind picked up, and then we turned around and fought the wind back to shore. It was awesome! I spent New Year’s Eve 2008 in a pool, at a party thrown by one of the resident Palagi’s. I got to meet the whole Palagi group… engineers, lawyers, etc., who are here for one or several years working. They tend to stick together, here. It was a fun night, as we swam and counted down New Year’s in Boston/NYC, Los Angeles, Hawaii, and finally American Samoa. I had the longest 2008 of anyone I know… Am Sam is on the very tail end of the world time zones.
And now, back in Manu’a, how do I feel? I feel good. The weighted has shifted… the feelings have mostly lifted. We are now counting down to June… about five months exactly until I board my flight to Honolulu to meet my mom. I still think about June, but not like before. I needed winter break to come, and it did. And by the end? I missed my students, and was ready to come back and tackle first-semester final exams, then second semester, which starts in two weeks. I feel like I can finally enjoy myself here, without constantly dwelling on the number of months remaining. Time has been flying lately. I think that the next few months will fly, and then all of the sudden it will be mid-April… Sping break… then only a month and a half left until June! It’s kind of crazy. I miss my family, and really can’t wait to see them. For now, I have the fact that I’m planning a huge trip with them for June. I cannot wait! I also have Spring break to plan, and tons of finals to write, and lesson planning to keep me busy, and DVDs to watch, and books to read, and veggie chili to cook. I feel good about being here.
Winter break was amazing. It was two and a half weeks that felt like a month. I was worlds away from my students and my life in Manu’a. I missed my students sometimes. I missed Manu’a sometimes. But it was a perfect and relaxing getaway. I got to see a Samoa that American Samoa probably was before Americanization. I got to see other friends. I got to eat salads and fruit smoothies, and see movies, and walk on flat ground for long periods of time. It was fantastic. I’m planning on returning to Western Samoa, hopefully this year, but if not, in future years. And I’m tackling second semester focusing mainly on work and trying to be a better teacher, and also not let things get to me as much in school. I don’t have much to say right now about 2008… it was an amazing year, filled with New York memories, my last months at the USAO, which I will miss forever, and now this new adventure. I am happy it’s 2009 and am hoping it will be a great one! I mostly measure my life at my birthdays, so New Year’s feels more like a milestone than anything else. Here’s to 2009.