Random Observations

Written sometime in the last couple of weeks. I’d tell you exactly when but can’t remember. Time flies here in the tropics.


Here are some random observations and things I’ve seen that may point out some of the differences between my home here and my home in Florida…

Décor – home and personal. One of the biggest houses in my compound is a large palagi house. It has one enclosed room in the rear and the remainder of the house is one large room, with lots of windows on 3 sides. Part of one back wall is open to the outdoors. My Easter guests asked why it was abandoned. They assumed that because there is no furniture. Just a large empty room. It is, in fact, lived in. The furniture consists of sleeping mats which are rolled up and stored in the enclosed room during the day. Minimalist, to the extreme.

Personal style, among women, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. The overwhelming majority of women here have long hair. It is worn in a bun, at the back of the head. Usually held in place with a hair clip. The clips frequently are made to be decorative. They are colored, or have artificial flowers or something else attached. I frequently see women wearing 3 or 4 at one time, each with a large flower attached. A real flower is then placed behind one ear. Rhinestone studded sunglasses are sometimes then placed on top of the head. And, for practical reasons, a pen is stuck in the bun.

As I waited for the bus yesterday morning I watched a Year 3 boy walking to my family’s faleoloa to do some shopping for his family. As he walked back, bag of onions in hand, a young woman carrying an infant and leading a toddler was headed toward the store.

She called the boy over. She took the bag of onions and gave him her money. He turned and ran back to the store, clearly sent to buy her groceries. Back he ran, a few minutes later with the items she’d asked for. He gave her the change and her items and she handed back his onions. It saved her some steps.

Kids are commonly used to run errands. I didn’t do it at first, thinking it was taking advantage of them. When I realized that they wanted to run errands for me and would argue over who got to do it next, I caved. I will miss having small, willing helpers when I get home. Who will fetch a cup of Koko Samoa for me? Or run to the faleoloa during interval to buy some ramen?

Yesterday was a typical bus ride to the market. That’s the only place to buy fresh vegetables and fish. Occasionally neighbors sell fresh produce on the street, but that’s rare in my village. Between the wait and the bus ride, it took me 1 ½ hours to get to the market. That’s also how long it takes to get to the internet café, which is why I post sporadically. It took 2 hours to get home because I had to wait longer for a bus.

I got up early this morning, about 5 a.m. It was raining and I enjoyed lounging in bed listening to the rain on the tin roof and the roosters half-heartedly crowing. Shortly after I got up and was opening my curtains, one of the boys of my family walked by. He said “Happy Mother’s Day.” And we chatted. I find this type of conversation disconcerting. Why? Because as we were chatting, he was taking a shower. 2 feet outside my window, while wearing a lava lava.

The whole sleep thing in Samoa fascinates me. Where and when people sleep is somewhat fluid. I’ve had numerous conversations with Samoans who find it very odd and somewhat upsetting that I sleep alone, in my house. Why would I choose to sleep indoors, alone, when I’m perfectly welcome to join them in the open fale? Explaining that I’ve had my own, private bedroom since I was 4 seems bizarre to them. Why would you force a child into a room alone? As opposed to my view at the time which was “Finally, I got rid of the brother and have my own space!”

Yesterday morning I left early for the bus. My family was still sleeping. Generally mom and the girls sleep in one house while dad and the boys sleep in the open fale. But not always. There’s a third house where they sometimes sleep. That’s also where they made the cement blocks a couple of weeks ago. Inside the house. Mixed the cement on the floor.

Anyway, as I walked past their fales I saw bodies in two of the houses and one girl sleeping on one of the graves in front of the house. Later, I was talking to one of the boys and asked how he was. He explained that he hadn’t slept well. Seems he was the last one home after bingo. When he arrived the two houses were locked and the open fale was full, so he slept on a chair on the lawn.

We also discussed who was taking a shower at 1:30 a.m. and then at 2:00 a.m. He explained that his mother showered first then he showered. They’d both been asleep. So why get up to shower in the middle of the night? “I don’t know about my mom, but I woke up and realized I’d forgotten to shower before I’d gone to bed.” Personally, I’d have rolled over, gone back to sleep and showered in the morning. It’s just one of the many small things that’s different here.