Monday, October 1, 2012

Hot and Tired

Has it been hot lately? Yes. So hot that even the Samoan's are complaining about not being able to sleep at night because of the heat. I've been taking three showers a day and even that isn't enough. It was a long but good day today. We're still preparing for Teacher's Day which means no real teaching. I find that very frustrating but am trying to practice patience and humility. We had a very long interval today, complete with musical accompaniment from our new PA system. I was annoyed with the loud music but decided to practice my Samoan dancing. I stink. I'm so bad that all in the vicinity were offering hints. I challenged the other teachers to join me and demonstrate. They didn't, but the kids did. A grumpy mood shifted when about 50 girls from 5 to 15 years got up to show me how to break it down, Samoan style. All of them were so graceful and lovely. I felt like a clod but kept it up. Too wonderful to see the tiny ones working so hard to teach me the hand movements. My dancing is still sub par but it was a lovely time. Plus, there was one little boy who braved the moment and let me continually chase and tickle him. I really, really love these kids.

4 comments:

  1. First of all I want to thank You.. your blog has touched my soul...after a hard day at work I cant wait to get home to see how your day has been.. I have never been to Samoa but I have been to American Samoa on 3 different occasions...so it has been easy for me to relate to you...You being a teacher I thought you may get a chuckle out this, My best friend for over 20 years was born in Pago Pago he is from the village of Aua..anyway I was cooking Sunday dinner and invited him and family over to eat, He asked me what I was cooking and I told him that I had bought a ham and that I had made macaroni salad, hot rolls and made a pineapple pie for dessert.. He said that he would call his wife to make sure they didnt have any other plans..when I heard him on the phone he was telling his wife that I was cooking a HIPPO roast..when he got off the phone I asked him what he meant by a HIPPO roast, he said you know ham hippo, ham comes from a hippo...I started to laugh hysterically...I explained to him that ham comes from a PIG not a HIPPO..he did not believe me, so I had to get some other friends to tell him, I couldn't beielve a 30 year old man believed that ham came from a hippo..then a few years later I travel to American Samoa, He asked to me to ask his family and friends where ham comes from and they said a HIPPO ...I started laughing and told them that ham comes from a PIG...One of his family trying to prove me wrong went and retrieved a kids book and it showed pictures and said H is for ham and H is for HIPPO and so all there lives they believed HAM came from a HIPPO....God Bless and keep writing your BLOG Mark

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  2. How funny is that Mark! haha... Great read again Nancy. Soifua

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  3. Pretty soon you will be leaving Samoa, and it will be the last of my Samoan blog reading, and I will miss your unique voice. I mentioned before, my daughter and son-in-law were over there, and I kept reading till Mat Leal left (since his blog was a must read), but then you came and got me hooked once again. Hope you relish the last weeks!

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  4. Thanks for all the kind comments. I've been pisi tele but enjoying my last days. So hard to believe that next month I'll be home.

    I hope you'll keep reading, since I plan to keep writing about my readjustment process to the USA. You've gotten to hear about me talk about my frustrations in a new culture, soon you'll be able to read about my frustrations with my own culture.

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