Wackyfish

It is about 10 am. I have been at work for about 2 hours and not yet had a chance to stop putting out fires and do some actual work. Archie my “tech in training” finds me in the admin office and says “Tea”. I get up and high tail it out of the admin office and back to our main IT room. He has prepared coffee for himself and our new boss (whom I like) and made me with a cup of hot water for herbal tea. I find my green tea bags and plop one into my cup as I plop down in one of the “comfy” chairs in the tech room. I pull a package of cookies out of my bag, open it and take one. I pass the rest to the guys.
We sit for the next 30 min. We talk about stuff going on with the company, with IT, with the employees, and with our village. We all freakishly live in the same village, so the lack of water is a big topic. I reach over and steal back another cookie even tho I have promised myself I will only have one. Our boss comments that Samoan girls are prettier because they are not afraid to eat. We all laugh. Then we laugh some more.

The FaaSamoa for what we are doing is “Kafau” (well Tafau really, but who speaks proper FaaSamoa anymore?). It means to hang out and visit. It is very important here. I can’t say that I mind. I work hard, so Kafau at morning tea is a nice little perk. Tho once again it leads to concerns that I am becoming more and more unfit for western life.