86 Countries and Still Counting: "All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready To Go"

A cloudy morning in Apia

It’s early and I’m sitting in the dark, humming Peter, Paul and Mary in my head and enjoying the sounds of the birds and roosters. The only person I’ve seen was Mika, who came out to get a glass of water (and give me a hug, which is always a nice way to start the day.)

Speaking of hugs, I’d like to tell you a bit about what I learned yesterday as they prepared us to go to the village and not offend. The Samoans are somewhat formal and PDA’s, even among married couples are not appreciated. Having said that, it is ok for women to touch/hug women and men to touch/hug as well. Same sex hand holding is ok, too. Kissing the opposite sex on the cheek as a greeting is fine, but if I would hug a man in public, I’d be letting the world know he’s my boyfriend and it would cause a stir.

Feet are a big deal here. I’ve found that in many Asian cultures as well, where pointing your feet, especially the dirty bottoms of your feet at people is considered rude and a sign of disrespect. Since sitting on the floor for hours is the norm, that can cause problems for us Palagis (pronounced Pa-long-ees), who get stiff after about a nano-second. We can sit with feet to the side and also with our legs outstretched, but only if we cover our feet with a mat or lava lava.

Sa’u told us about talking while eating: when he was a child his mother said “Do you have two mouths? One to talk and one to eat? No! So use the one you have to eat!” While our families may want to talk to us while we eat, in more formal settings, eating time is for eating, not talking.

Sa’u also explained that it is rude to carry a backpack, towel or anything else over your shoulder. It seems that goes back to the days when tribes would fight and the winners would behead the losers and carry the heads, by the hair, over their shoulders back to the village to show they were the victors. Once as a child when Sa’u was carrying something over his shoulder, his mother said “Who’s head are you bringing into this house?” I wish I could meet his mother.

Umbrellas are big here, both as protection from the sun as well as the rain. But it is rude to walk by a fale where a meeting is being held, or past the house of the high chief with an open umbrella. Same with riding a bike. Get off and walk past. Or, if you’re carrying a large item. Not sure how you get it past, but it would be rude to schlep past the important folks.

Eating or drinking while walking is also considered rude, even in the house. Samoans take their food very seriously, so just sit and eat. Smelling food is also considered very rude. It seems a lot of Palagis pick up a new-to-them piece of food and sniff it before testing it and that is not viewed positively.

In our homes, we are to be treated as families and not guests, so we’ll be served with the other adults. Adults, by the way, eat before children, to get the best bits. If we are guests at another home or event, though, we’ll be fed first. To signal that we’re finished, we push our plate/table mat away from us. The trick is to remember that as guests, when we say we’re done, that means everyone is done, so as soon as we push our plates forward, everyone else will too. Even the people who have just been served, but not eaten. That would not make us popular.

One thing that will be hard to remember is that if someone serves us something (more food or drink, perhaps) and we say “thank you”, it means that we want more of whatever they just gave us. Fale and Joe did a hilarious skit where she saw him drink some water, so poured more. He said “thanks” and so she poured more. It continued for a few minutes, with both of them becoming more frustrated and with all of us laughing our heads off. Good acting, language teachers!

One of the other things we learned yesterday was how to take a bucket bath. Joe demonstrated for the guys and Lumafale (my first language teacher, who I love) demo’d for the girls. We’ll have showers at our new homes. They may be in the house, or they may be a separate “shower house”. But, sometimes, when there’s no running water (because of lack of rain or whatever) we’ll have to take a bucket bath and you do that in the backyard, with nothing around to provide modesty. So, you bathe while wearing a lava lava. I’d say it takes a great deal of skill and experience to do it and not flash the neighbors.

I pointed out that I’ve taken bucket baths at home, after hurricanes, when we have no running water. I just used a bucket in the shower. No need to do it in the yard. They acknowledged that I could do it in the shower at the home as well. But, it was hysterical, watching Lumafale simulate scrubbing and rinsing all the important parts.

One of the guys reported that in their demonstration, after rinsing off the body, Joe removed his dirty undies to use them as a washcloth for his face/body. I may never kiss a Samoan.

Reminded me of being in the hamaam (public bath) in Fez, Morocco. After the woman assigned to wash me was finished, she asked me to stand up so that buckets of water could be tossed over me to rinse me off. But first, she asked me to remove my wet, dirty panties and then handed them to the American hotel owner next to me, who I’d met a few hours earlier. I felt bad until she pointed out that I’d been downstream from her the entire bath, so I’d been soaking in her dirty bath water. Yeah, I’m Peace Corps ready.

Lumafale and Joe did another skit that involved placing a sleeping mat on the floor. The point was that you never moved your mat so that your feet were pointing at someone else. Ok, I can get with that. My dilemma is that after sleeping on a mat on the floor, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to haul my fat carcass off the ground the next morning.

At the hotel, we’ve been sleeping on wooden platforms, topped with four inches of foam rubber. Let’s just say it’s firm. Between that and spending eight ours a day on a wooden, straight-backed chair, I’ve been a little stiff and sore. A chiropractor could have a field day with me. I’ve been mentally debating if my lower back muscles will toughen up and I’ll get used to it, or if I’ll just be achy for two years. I’ll keep you posted. Assuming, of course, that I can haul my carcass off the floor to get to my computer.

One final note before I go into radio silence for 7 weeks (radio silence – think anyone in Group 83 besides Patricia will know where that phrase came from?) Anyway, yesterday was a red letter day for food. Breakfast was the standard tea and toast. Lunch as a veggie burger, which was actually a fried egg, cheese, pineapple and mayo-less coleslaw on a hamburger bun. Deelicious. Then, because we were celebrating, we stopped next door for ice cream. Didn’t taste like any cookies and cream that I’ve ever had. It tasted like the best ice cream in the universe.

For dinner we continued the food extravaganza and went to Italiano’s for pizza. Pat and I split a small veggie pizza, with thin crust and plenty of cheese. They even had chili flakes. A wonderful way to end the day.

I’m off now to repack for the million and 52^nd time. We can only take one small bag to the village for the next 7 weeks, so once again I need to whittle down my essentials. Then off to see Upolu as we drive across the island to our villages on the south shore.