Don't Bother The Trainees

(Written Saturday, Nov. 11, 2012)

I was in Salelologa this morning to meet up with one of my group. It would be our last chance to see each other in Samoa. On the way, I stopped to buy a birthday gift for my baby Julius. He turns one tomorrow.

 While I was shopping, I heard my name. It was Kiri, one of the new group. Ten members of Group 84 have been in Savaii for the last couple of days, meeting their new families and visiting the schools where they’ll be living. We were asked to leave them alone, allowing them to have the time to start getting to know their new families and villages. I tried. I didn’t go to the wharf to meet them when they arrived, which was disappointing for me.

 I was happy to see Kiri and invited her to join Pat and I at Burger Bill’s. She’d been up since 4:25 a.m. but the bus didn’t show and they missed the 8:00 a.m. boat. Plus, the 10:00 a.m. boat was cancelled, so she had time to kill. Welcome to Savaii!

 I was surprised when one of the group showed up on my doorstep on Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. She, of course, was not alone. Her new host parents brought her over. Not to worry, friends and loved ones of Angelina, she was fine. They just wanted to stop by because they know me and figured it would be nice for the new Pisi Koa to chat with the old Pisi Koa. They also wanted to show her my house and invite me to spend the afternoon and evening with them on Friday.

The plan was to take Lina to school on Friday, go shopping in Salelologa after school and pick me up about 3:00 p.m. Then, they’d drop Lina and me off at the beach at Lano so we could swim while they headed home to cook dinner. They’d pick us up again later and have dinner, then they’d drop me off at home in Faga, which is only about a 15 minute drive to Pu’apu’a.

The plan was fine except that when they were ready to pick me up I was still at the hospital. Because the infection has spread, I felt generally crappy and more like sleeping than hanging out at the beach, so I headed home instead.

 I was on the internet when they arrived close to 9:00 p.m. to drop off dinner. It was really thoughtful of them to bring me food, although one benefit of the infection is that my appetite is pretty much gone. It’s really hard for me to believe that by the time the new group moves to Savaii in December, I’ll have been home for almost a month. In some ways, I’m very jealous that they’re just starting their time here.