Wackyfish

Geeky girl alert!

I miss comic books…
At SMV I had Ted’s vast collection to barrow from at my whim (as long as I took care of them and put them back when I was done, which I always did). I also had the means to collect a few for myself.

I haven’t read a comic book since sometime this summer and I think my inner girl geek is suffering.
I visited the SIP web site and there is a new TPB (Trade paperback) that I haven’t read. Not to mention I’m sure by now there are new Danger Girl, Preacher, and Kabuki. Not to mention the old favorites I owned that I like to re-read yearly like the Sandman series.
And Ted always had something new and independent that I liked…
Maybe I will have to get back into online comics. At one point I followed several.
Max sent me a wacky flash animated comic called “Broken Saints” that was neat. Not so much neat for the plot, but the drawing and the animation was interesting.
Ok, if I get home in Sept I will have to make a trip to JJ comic book store for a fix.
Ok enough of this shameless geek whining.

The one in which Dorie wishes for death.

Up until recently I have been very lucky health wise. My stomach adjusted to the local flora and fauna quickly. And other than a cold I got during training (It’s a cold I often get when the weather outside is hot and I frequently move from an inside AC environment to an outside humid environment.) I have been amazingly healthy. I certainly had my fair share of annoyances like mosquito bites, indigestion (taro and pepe take a while for our sensitive Palagie tummies to figure out), cuts and scrapes. But I’m not sure I have ever experienced anything as miserable as food poisoning.
Wednesday I went to Maries Café right next to the PC office for lunch. They have a great fish steak. Which I have had (without the following food poisoning) at least a dozen times. It is a huge amount of fish, well prepared, and usually comes with veggies and a salad (or what passes as a salad). It’s good, it’s healthy, and it’s even reasonably priced.
Let me say a few things here about fish preparation. In my humble experience there are really only three results of cooking fish. The first is dry overcooked fish. This is not always a bad thing as you are assured that any bad things laying in wait to make you sick are now dead. But it is not preferable. The second is undercooked fish (such as the kind I had on Wednesday). The outside may appear well cooked but inside the flesh is still pink and slimy. And the third is perfectly cooked fish. It has been cooked to the perfect point of not overdone, and just done enough. This is not an easy point to find and as a chef I tend to just default to overcooking just in case.
I noticed that the fish steak was slightly undercooked when it came to our table on Wednesday. But it didn’t bother me much as I have been eating a lot of sashimi lately and I figured my stomach could handle a little undercooking. Unfortunately the fish we were eating at the café must not have been Sushi grade fish, and my stomachs ability to “handle it” was greatly underestimated.
As I went back to work after lunch on Wednesday I noticed I didn’t feel so well. I spent most of the afternoon sitting my office whishing I had had… anything else for lunch. After work I went home, had some toast, and tried to fall asleep on my couch watching a movie, hoping the ick tummy would go away. I finally crawled to bed around 10. Only to be woken by the most gut wrenching stomach cramps I have ever had in my life around midnight. It felt similar to what I imagine it felt like for the poor guys in Alien when the creatures burst out of there abdomens. I spent the rest of the night in the bathroom throwing up. By the time what was left of lunch and dinner toast had exited, my tummy moved on to attempting to expel nothing. Which is always fun.
I spent so much time tired, and sick in my bathroom that at one point I thought I heard a giant chipmunk come through my front door. Please note, there are no chipmunks on the Samoan Islands. After which my next thought was… “Hey great! Now I am hallucinating”. (Your sarcasm meter should be going off).
Thursday morning I laid in bed and wished for death. Work was simply out of the question. I slept all morning. Around noon I got up and the cramping and wrenching had stopped. Now I was just exhausted, dehydrated and sore. Attempting to drink waster brought the symptoms of the night before right back and so I stopped consuming anything at all. About three I went into town to see the PCMO who told me I needed to try at drink some liquids. I stopped and got my mail and a movie as well since I planned on being at home and miserable all evening. (Oh and I updated my journal for yesterday.)
This morning I had a piece of toast and water. It seems to be staying down ok. We shall see.
I can’t very well avoid fish eating fish here. It is about the healthiest thing you can get. And moreover I wouldn’t want to, I like it. I may however be much less timid about sending fish back to the kitchen to be cooked a little longer if I ever find it still pink in the middle with a slightly slimy texture.

Bad Fish.

I ate some bad fish yesterday and got food poisoning. I have spent a good portion of the past 20 hours retching and sleeping. I feel like I have been run over by a truck.
I will be back with something funnier and wittier to say about it tomorrow.

Coffee Club goings on….

Earlier this week the coffee club got a new visitor.
A beautiful woman named Diane joined us. All the ladies knew her. She owns and runs the Samoa Observer, the major newspaper on the island. She is apparently part of the upper circle of ladies.
It turns out she was mostly there to get the latest scoop from Piza on the “Meter Tampering Scandal” at EPC. (I know no details and my Samoan is not nearly good enough to understand any details, and even if I did I’m sure this is not the format to air them.)
So we haven’t seen Diane since.
Too bad I hope she comes back, the coffee is really good, and she seemed very interesting and nice.

In other news I have decided that “Pretty Princess Palace” is NOT the right name for my house. Kid no one, my house is great, and I feel like a princess there. But that was just a little too Barbie for me. I am however taking suggestions. (Which would be easier if I had pics, I know I know. I’m getting to it.)

Thankful

Sometimes people come into your life and touch you in ways you don’t even realize until it is to late. One such volunteer did this for me. She was the ultimate cheerleader. She was warm and supportive, ready with hugs and encouragement whenever anyone needed them (and even when you didn’t, hugs are nice to have anytime), and her glass was always half full no matter how dim the circumstances. She brightened any room she walked into. There was no one who knew her that didn’t love her.
Personally I can think of several occasions in which she brightened my life and touched me with her simple perceptive caring. Thank you it meant more than I can tell you.
She is leaving Samoa, under some very sad circumstances. She will be missed. I wish her and her family the very best, in what will surely be a difficult time.

I am lucky.
I am very lucky.
I sit here in my Pretty Princess Palace (bear with me please, it’s a name I am trying on for my house) and I hardly believe my luck.
My home is comfortable and provides sanctuary.
I have an amazing family at home that still takes care of me in one way or another.
I have wonderful friends who not only send me neat packages but keep me laughing with their charming and dazzling wit. (And put up with my bad puns)
I have an Aiga Samoa (Samoan Family) who think I am the “bee’s knee’s” and pamper me shamelessly when I visit.
I have co-workers that love me and take good care of me. (For example, Piza brought me a bouquet of fresh gardenias from her yard this morning so I had something nice for my bathroom.)
I have other volunteers that not only hold me up when I am down, they let me return the favor and as a network of support we grow stronger each day.
I have a developing appreciation of my country and this great opportunity to serve.
I have good health that is getting better each day.
I get to go to work each day and know that even if I can’t see it I AM doing something worthwhile with my life and making a difference for the better. (This makes getting out of bed in the morning and to work so much easier. But don’t misinterpret it, my work is not easy. I just look forward to it more.)
And I live in paradise.
I am a lucky girl.

Morning…

I got up this morning at 6am. (Yes, on purpose.)
I put in a DVD and stood in front of my big bank of windows.
I did yoga this morning as the sun rose over the ocean.
I live in paradise.
It is amazing.
It is unbelievably beautiful.
It is peaceful.
I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

In chatting with Max this morning online I responded to something he said with “lei lei” (pronounced: lay lay) which means good. I had meant to say good, but my someplace between my brain and my fingers it got translated into Samoa. I am seeking out the party responsible for the unauthorized translation. Rest assured they will be dealt with appropriately.

I have a full weekend planned including some work and a small gathering at my house this weekend. Hopefully it will go off ok. I hope everyone else has a great and restful weekend.
Manuia le weekend.

Why my Uncle Craig is a Genius. – by dorie peterson

I just got a CD with a video he made for me, of the Christmas Eve gathering at my Grandmothers Place. It is by far the best Christmas gift I received. It had my Dad, my Aunts, My Uncles, My sister, My brother, my cousins, family friends, family dogs and even a bunch of shots of Pirate (The take no prisoners gift exchange game we play every year). I laughed I cried I missed my family. But it was sooooo great to see everyone. It was almost like I was there. And I must say, it was beautifully edited and put together. So I very rightly say, My Uncle Craig Rules. And Thank you soo much.

In other exciting news…
I may be able to come home for a very short visit this September. It is still a maybe. There is a big Daffron AS(S)400 conference in Minneapolis the first week in September every year and my company will likely send my boss and I this year. Since most flights to Samoa go through LA, I should be able to take a week off and just have to buy tickets to SF from LA and back after the conference. Which would be a neat way to get home for a short cheep visit. At this point it looks very likely. We shall wait and see.

Living in the lap of luxury (please note sarcasm)

Yesterday was a big day for me. Work was crazy (But that is SOP these days) I had Power, water, a working PHONE at home and yesterday I purchased a TV and DVD player. I got home after work, talked on the phone for two hours, made a big yummy dinner and watched some of the hours of commentary on the Two Towers DVD while soaking my feet and giving myself a pedicure. It was not only indulgent, it was decadent.

I think enough time has gone by since the cyclone that the Water Authority and the EPC have recovered reliable service in my area. Although I am trying to not get used to reliable water and power. I am still considering it a luxury.

I have to thank Piza and Gary for the working phone. (Tangent alert! Gary is Piza’s husband, who looks after me like a little a big brother would look after a little sister. Have I mentioned he is a police officer and manages to show up at clubs and places just as I begin to get the mischievous gleam in my eye? He is also one of the 20 Officers joining the UN PeaceKeeping forces in Liberia. He leaves in a week. Piza and I are terrified for him, and he is really excited. He is a great guy, we will miss him a lot and pray he comes home safely in a year!) Gary has several buddies at Samoa Tel and asked them to personally take their truck up to my house and look at my phone. Then when they got there and the office was to crazy for me to leave and go let them into my house… I gave Piza my key and she took a taxi up and back to let them in to fix it. Did I mention that Piza takes good care of me. I love her and I’m not sure I will ever be able to thank her enough.
Anyway I got to talk to Mom, Dad, Deb, Max and Darc. It was amazing! (And this coming from someone who hates to talk on the phone.)

Here are a few tips if you want to call me.

1. I believe that you have to dail 01 before the country code and my number.
2. Costco (or Sam’s Club, which we don’t have in the Bay Area) has the cheapest international calling card deal. Cheaper than your long distance carrier. I think it works out to about .52c a min or something close. Most carriers are .85c a min or upwards. It cost me $6 tala a min, so if I ask you to call me back that is why.
3. I would LOVE to talk to you if you would like to call me. I am a busy girl tho so if you just send me a quick e-mail to say “hay, I’m calling you tonight” I will make sure to be home for your call.

The TV and DVD player were something that I had intended to save up and buy eventually. I was in no big Rush. But someone is leaving the country quick style and needed to sell theirs, so when I got the e-mail I made an offer and sweetened the deal by paying in US dollars (Tala are a hassle to have converted). So now I have a TV and DVD player. I am real excited about having movie nights at my place! Also I got to dust off one of my yoga DVD’s this morning. I feel great! (I need to buy a yoga mat tho, I keep slipping around on my flooring.)

I made the yummiest fish last night. It was some Yellow fin that I picked up at the fish market. I just want to say that I have come a long way from the girl who couldn’t make ramen.

And to end what is becoming an extremely long post I would just like to post an exert from a letter my mother sent me around Christmas. (I just got it on Tuesday, I got two letters from her in fact. Mommy RULES!) Just in case you were wondering where I got my sense of humor this should satisfy. My mom is a funny funny woman.
“It is with greatest regret that I have to inform you that by order of the United States Government you will not (repeat) will not be receiving any FRUITCAKE from us this season. The postal service has stated that because of it’s dangerous nature (thick, dense, chunky and solid) no x-rays can pass though it to penetrate the secrets that lie lurking deep inside. So sorry.” (In case you couldn’t tell we don’t really like fruitcake, making this funny.)

Thank God it’s ummm…. Tuesday?

In my old life, Tuesdays were a rather unremarkable day of the week. Tuesdays being too near the beginning of the week to glimpse the coming weekend, and just far enough from last weekend that the residual glow of relaxation and fun had worn off.
In my new life, Tuesdays are “Blow off steam, with Mo” night (Mo being another volunteer). We have been meeting at “The Lighthouse” after work for pool, beer, sashimi and a lot of yapping.

Even as I write this I am shocked at myself.
1. I have always sucked at pool. Mo is a pro and used to play in a league. Under her direction I am sucking less.
2. I hate beer. But for some reason a cold Vallima is excellent after a long crazy day. Especially when teamed up with a game of pool and copious amounts of sassing about who is going to kick who’s ass at the current game.
3. Sashimi was one of my least favorite foods. It’s raw fish, which is slimy and gross. (I have always been very picky about the texture of my food.) However we have really excellent quality fish here, and the Sashimi they serve at Lighthouse was pulled out of the sea that morning. So it is fresh, very healthy and shockingly cheep. I seem to be developing a tolerance/taste for it.

Along with a game I am no good at, and food and drink I only sort of like, there is a whole lot of shit talking, and complaining. We talk about the work, bosses, co-workers, the culture, our houses, men, and just about anything else we can think of to whine about. It is a great release and afterwards we both feel immensely better. Having someone whom is going through the same (or very similar) circumstances as you are and to be able to yap in an understanding and sympathetic ear is very healthy.
Last night we even managed to win a few games as a team at pool. (Mo mostly won them for us… I just knocked the balls around the table.)
Unsurprisingly I always sleep well on Tuesday night’s after our gathering. Maybe it’s the beer, maybe it’s exhaustion from too much laughter, or maybe my shoulders are little bit lighter freeing me to relax and sleep better. Anyway, I really look forward to Tuesdays now as I know an evening of good company and fun await.

In other news…

The Rock Helps Samoa Recovery

I always thought he was a cheesy actor, someone who belonged in B movies. Kid no one, I LOVED “The Mummy Returns” and “Scorpion King” they are great campy films that are just fun. Even his latest film “Welcome to the jungle” while not a great piece of cinema was actually a lot of fun. (Interesting side note here: this movie opened at the theaters the weekend my training group got here to Samoa. They STILL have at least one (sometimes two) showing of it a day. That was over three months ago. They sure do love the Rock here!) While none of his movies can be considered great film (or really even good film. Campy, fun, worth seeing, yes, but good…. No!) I am beginning to gain a lot more respect for the guy.
He is half Samoa and some of his mothers family still live here on Upolo (the island I live on). He still maintains strong connections with his family here. (His uncle is an engineer here at EPC.) At first I thought the Samoan peoples adoration of him bordered on obsession of a bad actor. But the more I look, the more it seems like well earned respect for him as a fellow country man who is proud of his roots and happy to help Samoa become the great country it wants to become.

“It is no bad thing, to celebrate a simple life.” –Bilbo Baggins

Having lived my whole life (until now) in a first world nation, I am unaccustomed to basic services being (for lack of better words) Flaky. My power has been reliable (accept for during that pesky cyclone) but I live on the compound owned by the power company so it figures. I STILL have no telephone. I think SamoaTel may just hate me. I have just come to accept I may never have a home phone. (I have a physical phone at my house, and in theory I even have an active phone line to my house. However when plugged into the jack I get no dial tone. It has been this way now for about two weeks and for about two weeks ST has been promising to come look at it. They have yet to show up. In resolution see previous entry about analog cell phone).

Water is another story entirely. Once in a while I have water at home. Most of the time I don’t. Prior to the cyclone the water in my district (Vaivase-Uta) was fine. Now it is spastic at best. Once in a while it is on with very strong water pressure. Once in a while it is on at just a trickle (when this happens usually the water trickles downstairs from my outside hose but nothing works upstairs in the house). But most of the time the pipes just gurgle and burp without a drop.

This has lead to behaviors such as water hoarding, and bucket showering. It means no painting, no laundry and no doing dishes. Not that I like doing laundry or dishes, but a closet full of dirty clothes and a sink full of dirty dishes is even less fun.
Running water is something I took for granted before I got here, and shockingly (to me anyway) I seem to be acclimating to not taking any services for granted. When the power was out I just read by candle and eat PB&J sandwiches (no power means no cooking). When the water is out I just do what I can with saved buckets of water or leave all the chores for later and read. Without a phone… I just get along.

It’s not too bad actually. It is simple, and uncomplicated. As soon as you come to accept that you don’t have these services/things, you move on to the next thing. Which in my case is often reading. And hey, I love to read so it made acceptance easier. My life is becoming a process of “What can I do with what I have right now”. Often this gets boiled down to the most basic things, like putting food in my tummy, or having something clean to wear in the morning. It is wacky to say the least.

WANTED: your old analog phone.

Remember WAY back in the day when cell phones (or most cell phone anyway) were analog? Were you one of those cool kids to have one? Are you a pack rat and never throw things away, so you still have that old analog phone sitting around? GREAT! I need one! (If it has a sim chip it is not analog.)
I still have no phone at my house. However another PC volunteer told me that Samoa Cellar will hook up any analog phone for a one time set up fee ($50 tala). After that you can purchase call time if you would like to make outgoing calls. But dig on this… All incoming calls are free (for me). Which would mean I could get calls from home, and from other volunteers. The phones here cost about $200 tala, which is right out of my price range. But I know old analog phones work. If you have an old one I would love to barrow it for the next two years.

Room to be what it is… ( a very personal entry)

There was a charming little entry about the Fia fia last night rattling around in my head and I had planned to write it and post it today. But I just spent the afternoon in meetings with the Peace Corps IAP (Inter America and Pacific) regional director (along with a few other volunteers). I walked away from the meeting with an overwhelming sense of discouragement about development in Samoa. The issues are deep, complicated and mostly theoretical but frankly I am too discouraged to write about them. In fact I am currently to discouraged to want to talk (or write) about much of anything.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am not going to turn tail and come home. I am sure I will work all these issues out and find resolution of some sort. I have the capacity to be ok with only doing what I can do (because currently my impact here seems limited). So it seem that right now my plans for “saving the world” are not going so well (at lest in a greater theoretical sense anyway), and it has me down.
Let me just say end by saying that this whole Peace Corps thing is Hard (not that I didn’t expect it to be but still…) It’s hard living far from home and all that is familiar. It is hard living in a developing country. And it is even harder when the principles that make the difficulties ok, are called into question. So for today my bright sunny disposition fails and I get discouraged. I don’t expect it to last, but I have to give it it’s due time to just be what it is. Discouragement.

The Coffee Club

One of my favorite parts of the day is the morning coffee club. On workdays I come into work about 30 min early, which means getting up at roughly 6am. At roughly 7:30 (depending upon the bus’s timeliness) I can be found at Daphnie’s café on the first floor of the building I work in. Every morning a group of prominent elderly (read: well respected) Samoan women gather for a morning cup of coffee and gossip. I have been joining them.
The coffee is real brewed coffee and while it is expensive (3 tala a cup, but you get free refills, so you can drink as much as you want.) it is the best cup of coffee in town. But better than the coffee is the company. These women are the wives and sisters of ministers, big business men, and even one is even an heiress from New Zealand. Each morning they greet me in English with “Good morning Doreen!” (hearing my full name is still real wacky, but it is respectful… so I tolerate it). They ask me the standard set of questions starting with “Sa alu i le pasi?”(“Did you come by bus?”) and ending with “Will you go out tonight?”. I insist we speak in Samoa. I struggle, they laugh, I laugh, and then they usually buy my cup of coffee.
Then the gossip begins. They are the Apia old school Socialites so they usually have lots to chatter about. I try to keep up with what they are saying, but this morning I thought I heard one of them say her cow had been married three times… so I think my Samoan still has a ways to go.
Here is the Roll call of charming ladies so far.
First of all there is Ili (pronouced: Eee-lee). She is the owner of Daphnie’s. I should take min to explain the Café. It is set up half as a restaurant and half as a clothing boutique. It is the wackiest little shop. I love it there. Ili is the wife of one of the Ministers of State. I think the café/boutique is her hobby.
Next there is Piza (Pee-za). She is sort of my boss/coworker person thing. Technically she runs the Data processing department at EPC, it’s a big position for a woman in Samoa. She takes really good care of me. Then there is Lea. I adore Lea (I adore them all really). She reminds me very much of my grandmother. Her husband is a big exec at SamoaTel and she works at the children’s hospital, again as a hobby. Next is Juno. Her family owns a ton of stuff (she is the matriarch). Several fancy restaurants, my favorite club (Eye-spy), a big food distribution center, and a few other businesses. She works at the Red Cross, and when she isn’t there she can be found at Paddles (another sassy restaurant her family owns) bossing her family and staff around. And last but never least, is Jewel. Jewel’s father is a big guy in Parliament (one of the top chiefs) and she is the Heiress. Her family in New Zealand runs a huge fishing industry. She has refused to marry. She says she doesn’t want to lose her money. Which is not only wacky for a woman but mildly scandalous.
These women are all privileged, influential and spunky. And I am fortunate enough to be in the process of being adopted by them all. Although I suspect that having a Peace Corps on the peripheral of their circle is a status boost.
Anyway they are teaching a lot about Samoa culture, and language. I am very appreciative of this. It helps me feel like I am integrating into the culture. Not to mention I get to drink good coffee. So I guess it is worth the early wake up call.

Famine?

Cyclone damage not only ripped roofs off of homes and downed phone and power lines, but it took out 80% of the islands Taro plants, Ulu trees (breadfruit) and fa'i (banana) trees. (Samoa has about 11 varieties of bananas. Only two of, which are sweet like the banana's we eat in the states. The other 9 varieties taste like a strange potato with the texture of a banana. It's wacky). While the infrastructure damage can be repaired with enough manpower and AID funding (there is plenty on it's way), crops just take time. The majority of Samoa population exists on subsidence farming. They grow their own crops of taro, ulu and fa'i (Banana) and supplement it with fish or chicken. However most of the fishing boats were damaged in the storm. The chickens here are "free range" and my Samoa family lost most of theirs in the high winds, as did everyone else. So now without crops, most of the fishing boats damaged in the storm and the chicken population gone missing, a major famine is predicted for the island. I was at the big food market Friday and I must say that the pickings were real slim. Usually I can find an abundance of Chinese cabbage, eggplant, beans, and other good veggies. Friday there was mostly Fala (pineapple), Mago (mango) and what was left of the fa'i (banana) crop.
Those families with money can buy tinned fish, or beef, and bread. But the bread is the equivalent of white wonder bread and has nearly no nutritional value, and the tinned meats while containing protein also contain huge amounts of fat. Fortunately I make enough money with the PC that I will be able to get whatever Moa (chicken) and i'a (pronounced "eee-ah": fish) is left. It will be expensive for a while, but while I make almost nothing, I still make a hell of a lot more than most Samoans. This sort of makes sense because volunteers don't subsidence farm, or have anyone at home to do it for them like large Samoan families do.
Anyway, all this to say that I am worried about the health and harmony of my country (well my country for now). Previous to the cyclone it was a place where hunger and starvation didn't exist, and crime was very low. Food was as close as the nearest Ulu tree and fish were abundant and easy to get.
(On a side note: while hunger was never a problem here malnutrition was. No child can live on taro or ulu alone. These issues however were being addressed with some success by education programs at the Ministry of national health. I am proud to say that several PC volunteers were main architects of these nutrition educational programs. Hopefully these programs will resume as soon as things return to normal here.) And crime is typically right on the heals of any shortage of food.
Samoa is a beautiful tropical paradise. The people are amazing and wonderful with bigger hearts than anyone I have ever known. They will give you the shirt of their back if you asked them for it and they would walk ten miles to do it. Their generosity and love is in such great measures that I found it incomprehensible at first. And there has been political peace (and relatively low government corruption) here for the past 40 plus years. Statistics not shared by most other major south pacific islands. Anyway, I love this place. I love that everyone in my village already knows my name, where I work and that I had no water over the weekend. I love that the bus driver not only waits when he sees me but backs up his huge bus to get me. I love the beauty and peace and grace of this island. And I am anxious and sad to see what will happen to its population in the wake of the oncoming famine.

ARRRG!

I have no water and no phone, and I was supposed to be working today.
The good news is that once I got up, got dressed, came to town, had coffee with the coffee club (more on them later) my boss cancelled working today because our “muscle” (the two boys that work in my office who were really going to do most of the work today) decided to go to Savii.
So I don’t really have to work this morning, and I got up for nothing.
I wan debating whether or not to go home, because there is no water so I can’t do laundry (and I have a ton to do), I can’t paint because there would be nothing to clean up with, and I can’t clean my kitchen or bathroom because there is no water. So I would be stuck at home curled up with a book, but frustrated that I couldn’t get any of the million things I have to do at home, done.
However if I do go home, I could potentially be there when the water and phone people get there. Piza (a coworker here at EPC, who takes excellent care of me. She has adopted me and I have to say I am VERY grateful) called them this morning and in theory they are supposed to come by the house and check the water pipes and the phone lines. If I am there, when they come it might actually get fixed.
On the other hand I could stay in town, go tot he PC office, have a hot shower, and maybe go shopping and then to see a movie. But my water and phone may not get fixed…
What to do…
Ok, on another note entirely, (I know I don’t usually post these but I was tickled by the results so I am making an exception.

Elvish


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
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The good the bad and the ugly.

The main movie house in town just (“just” as in several weeks before Christmas) opened a new theater that plays old movies. The good the bad and the ugly is playing right now along with Fists of Fury and the Sound of Music. Can you believe that Bruce Lee and Julie Andrews are REAL BIG here?
The new movie schedule came out today and ROTK is still not on it anywhere. GRRRR! I know we will get it since it is a big NZ production, but this waiting is killing me. It could be out in DVD first at this rate.

Another endearing Samoan current craze is to take an old 80 lite rock hit and remix it with a Samoan singer and a techno/hip hop back beat, and then play it on all the radio stations. Imagine my shock and surprise when I heard “Stuck on you” by Lionel Richie, sung by a young man with a Samoan accent to a hip hop background. It was Wacky I tell you. The list of soft 80’s re-mixes is endless and I keep finding myself saying “oh! I used to like this song”.

I’ll never joke about natural disasters again.

So my predication that cyclone Heta would die out before it hit Samoa was wrong. Dead wrong in fact. While the eye of the storm never crossed Samoan land it came damn close and certainly close enough to do some major damage.
First off let me say, that I am fine, my house is fine, and so are all the PC volunteers and staff. Saturday afternoon (just as I had poured a fresh batch of paint in to my paint tray) our Safety and Security officer showed up at my house to take me to the evacuation point. I had about 5 min to clean up and throw some stuff together for “3 to 5 days”. He took me to the Samoa Holiday hotel (A nice solid German hotel built about 3 years ago, in a sheltered valley just outside of town) where all the remaining Peace Corps volunteers were gathered. (About 1/3 of the volunteers are out of country in the states or New Zealand, on holiday)
We spent three days cooped up in that hotel. At first it was kind of nice. The power didn’t go out until the second day so we had AC, a kitchen in each room, and a pile of DVD’s to watch. And the fact that we were stacked four to a room made the atmosphere real slumber party like. The second day (Sunday) the power went out and we all got a bit stir crazy. By the third day (Monday) I had hit a major low and spent the day sleeping, mostly out of boredom and depression. Fortunately Tuesday morning they came and got us all and took us home. I was supposed to start work, so I went in late around noon and helped out when the power came back on around three. (I am still in shock that the EPC has no backup generator for it’s admin office, I need to work on that.)
Anyway the point is I am safe and sound. My house is fine (I lost my papaya tree, but that is it.) Everyone else is safe, if inconvenienced. The Cyclone hit the downtown area of Apia pretty hard and we lost two of the ancient Banyan trees along the sea wall. The power has been out in most places since Sunday but it should be restored to the rest of the islands by the end of the week. (The PC offices were I am writing this from has it’s own generator.)
And I will never scoff off another natural disaster again.

Cyclone season

Before I left I joked that cyclones only hit the island of Samoa on average once every ten years. The last one was in 91. So we are a few years over do.
And guess what is headed our way.
Currently tropical storm Hetta is about 250 miles north west of Savii (the other Samoan island). At this rate it may get here to Upolo (the island I am on) tomorrow, but it will likely die out before then. Until it is all over it will likely just be a lot of rain.
Woot! Let’s hear it for living in a tropical paradise.

Manuia le tausaga fo

Happy new years! I can’t believe it is already 2004.
I have spent the week prepping and painting the interior of my house. Unfortunately there is still a ton of painting to do. I don’t remember painting taking this long.
Monday I got the primer coat (the previous paint job was all done in high gloss paint, so primer is needed everywhere) on the living/dining room area. Tuesday I got most of the first coat of paint on. The color is “Windsor”, it’s a light gray blueish color. It will need a second coat. Wednesday I finished the first coat of paint and took primer to the huge wall of bookshelves, my hallway, and part of my kitchen. I haven’t even touched the trim yet, accept to apply some primer here and there. Anyway, I am anxious for it to be done and I am wishing I had Darc or Gwynn here to help. But in there absents (or my absents really, they didn’t go anywhere, I did.) I will settle for the satisfaction of a taking my time and doing a good job. Afterall I have to live in this house for the next two years and if I do a mediocre job, well then I am the one who has to look at it everyday.
Ok enought of this balthering. I am off to a LOTR marathon this afternoon. ROTK isn’t here yet (but they keep saying it will be “soon”) but in preparation we are watching the extended versions (THANK YOU MAX!) all afternoon. Which is good since I really need a break from painting.
If you feel up to it, e-mail me your new years eve adventures. (If they were posted on LJ I may get to them but not likely, so e-mail and I will make sure to read them.) I would love to hear what everyone was up to.