February 20, 2011

Grapes are just a tad out of my price range.

Kind of expensive to have salad here in Samoa. I've only seen lettuce once in Savaii and it was half rotten.

You can't dawdle when trying to get the only bus from the ferry to Apia. Don't get crammed on? It costs $60 for a cab instead of $3 for this fun bus ride.

 I'm used to seeing AAA maps on dashboards, so it took me a minute to react to seeing this one on the dash of my family's truck.  It was the map of Florida a friend sent.  My host "dad" is fascinated with the maps and takes them everywhere to read while he's waiting.

This is a real time update from the Peace Corps office in Apia. It's 8:34 a.m. and I'm enjoying the complete silence of the place. I planned to upload the amazingly well-written, humorous and thought-provoking stuff I wrote during the week, but realized I saved it to the hard drive on my laptop rather than my flash drive. Just another incidence of memory issues this week. I've had several.

One of the things I wrote about was that I was creating a rating system for every week. Much like in the Diary of Briget Jones. Rather than using cigarettes and liquor as a measure of the week, I'd be using popo, or coconuts.

This week was a 3 popo week. Like every week so far, it had its ups and downs. The week started Sunday morning with a torrential downpour and wind to match. Nevertheless, I heard the church bell, took a cold shower, dressed in a nice puletasi and slogged through the mud and rain to church. There was no one there.

I tried to keep my bible dry while hiking up my full-length skirt to keep it out of the ankle-deep mud while I walked home. I took another cold shower and changed clothes. Literally the minute I was done changing, the bell rang, which normally announces church. I said some inappropriate things under my breath and made some American cocoa (thanks, Donna!) I found out on Monday that the bell was just a reminder to pray at home since there was too much rain for church. I have no idea how to tell which bell means it's time for church and which means pray at home.

The other big news last Sunday was that the puppy disappeared. Or, as they say in the American press "went missing." When did that annoying phrase creep into the media? Sad news, we discovered Sasa's body on Monday. He'd been poisoned. The family assumes it was the neighbors, with whom they've had an on-going and heating-up land fight. They go to court next month and it promises to be ugly. If the other family loses, they have to leave the village and their house will be torn down. Ironic, given that I'm still looking for a house.

Whoever did it, I don't understand it. The puppy never left our compound. He didn't bark too much and other than leaving puddles for me to step in, didn't bother anyone. And he gave a lot of love. I'll miss him.

The week at school was stellar. I did a lot of observing, which was really helpful. I got to be the sub for the day when the Year 1 teacher was at a meeting. Have to admit, those 5 year olds almost brought me to my knees. I've had virtually no discipline problems with the older kids. I told them the rules and while there's the occasional slip, they generally follow them. Year 1 was chaos.

One boy was completely out of control. I'm sure he'd be on Ritalin in the States. It didn't help that I wanted to just laugh and hug him as much as I wanted to duct tape him to a chair. I finally took him next door to let the Samoan teacher deal with him. She called in his mom, who hangs out all morning in the school fale with some of the other moms and Mom suggested that he'd behave if I punched him in the mouth. Perhaps, but I wasn't punching.

Anyway, that day ended with me playing Duck, Duck Goose and London Bridge with the kids, yelling directions in Samoan, while the parents watched. I had an out-of-body experience at one moment. I saw myself sweating in a puletasi while chasing a tiny Samoan around the circle of kids. What was a management consultant doing spending hours singing and playing games with little kids? Laughing and having a good time.

The week was cruising along at about a 4 popo rate when I got a call from Peace Corps on Thursday afternoon. One of the staff called to see how I was settling in to my new house. I had to explain that the deal was off and we were back at square one. I told the PC staffer that I'd explained that to the other staffer the week before. Unfortunately, he's no longer with PC and left the impression that I was all set.

Upshot was that PC is now involved again. I won't bore you with details, but my housing situation has now been announced to all the parents of the school and they're having a meeting next week to try to find a couple of men to help build the bathroom in the house that was offered. Another offer of a place came in, which was incredibly generous, but would involve at least a month of construction to essentially build a new house. The concern is that we'd wait another month or two and if it didn't happen, would be in the same situation as we're currently in.

On Saturday morning, before sunrise, my family got up to give me a ride to the ferry. I've enjoyed a relaxing, rejuvanating weekend in Apia. I chatted with a couple of Australian tourists on the ferry. I enjoyed lunch and "girl time" with a friend. I had dinner with a friend who finished his service with PC Samoa and a PC Washington staffer who's part of the team here to assess reorg possibilities. The evening finished with the RPCV and I heading to a place for live music and cold beer. We enjoyed a beer, music and conversation while sitting under an open fale by candlelight. I felt like quite the grown up.

I slept in a clean room with no bugs. I have a lot of bug bites.  I currently have more than 50, mostly on my torso.   I counted, during a moment of boredom.  It was nice to not accrue any more during the night. The room was clean and quiet but also Samoan. There was no mattress, just a box spring. No worries, compared to the floor it was heaven. It only had one sheet, so I just wrapped up in that and slept on the bare box spring. The shower was clean (hurray!) and had hot water, which was great. The challenge, though, was to keep the water on, you had to press a button on the wall. I've never seen a shower like it. At first I was annoyed, then I realized it was kind of like playing Twister, under water.

Try this at home. Hop in the shower. Turn it on and place you finger on an imaginary button adjacent to the faucet. As you shower, one finger must remain on the button for the water to remain on. Ok, now turn around - don't take your finger off the button! I can just envision this water-saving device on sale on TV at home. "It will save you thousands on your water and electricity bills! Plus, it provides fun and exercise for the whole family! Twist and turn your way clean with the new, fabulous "You Don't Get Water If You Don't Push The Button" shower head!

Yup, ups and downs but overall another good week in Samoa. Fa, soi fua!

Sailing away from Salelologa, the largest "city" on Savaii, on the ferry.