Wackyfish

And I blather on....

Guess what? I am playing netball with my company team next Tuesday. I have never played netball in my life. It should be ok because I played some basketball in High School and they are supposed to be similar. I get the idea that they think I will be a ringer for them since I am American. EPPP! At least Mo promised to show up to point and laugh.

Today I am leaving work at 2:30 to catch the 3:00 bus to Falelatai. I am going to see my Aiga Samoa. I really need to. I bought a bottle of the coconut hooch and I packed my Uno cards so hopefully my father and brothers and I will have a good time tonight. Although I plan to limit my own drinking to just a few as I am still living in fear of my Christmas hangover.

The building right next to my office houses a bakery. I can smell fresh bread and other yummy things all day. I makes me hungry

I woke to the sound of church bells in the early misty morning

I am guessing that the Church Bells rang at 6am this morning because it is the time of lent. I suspect they are calling all the faithful into worship. I have never been catholic but I have come to respect that there is beauty in the ritual of the Catholic Church. It is was a rather nice substitute for my alarm clock actually.

And now after that charming little story, I am going to tell you about the bugs in my kitchen (Caution, read at your own risk)

So the other night while cleaning up my kitchen after dinner, I reached for the refrigerator handle and saw something scamper out of it. It freaked me out. But not as bad as when I looked between the fridge and the wall and saw a HUGE cockroach. I hate cockroaches, loath them actually. And they grow to the size of small dogs here (Ok maybe I am exaggerating a little bit). I keep my house pretty clean so I don’t see many of them. But the occasional roach is to be expected. They are all over the island. I tipped toed into the my bathroom where I keep my trusty big can of Mortien. Mortien is the Samoan all bug version of RAID. It is powerful powerful stuff and can kill just about any kind of bug. And I’m sure in the future I will have a nice little case of cancer from it. Anyway, by the time I got back to my kitchen the roach had disappeared behind the fridge. So I just started spraying behind the fridge in hopes that he would just die back there.
However within the next minute not one but three roaches came wobbling out from behind my fridge. Needless to say I hit them all with extra doses of Mortien to make sure they didn’t survive. I guess they had been living behind/under my fridge and just hoped I wouldn’t notice. Well so much for that. Now they are all dead and I can’t say that I am sorry (I would make a really awful Buddhist). And here is a picture of one of them dying on my kitchen counter and my trusty friend Mortien behind him. (The brown stuff at the back of my counter is cinnamon to keep the ants away.)

Pinch me, I really DO live here!

This is the view down Beach road from the building I work in. See what I mean about paradise. I took this shot yesterday from the fourth floor while the rain took a brief break. The large building with the dome on the left is the Government building. In front of it you can see the harbor. At the end of Beach Road is the big Catholic Church.

It rained all last night again and it looks like it will keep on raining until Friday at least. Insipte of of the rain I had a very productive evening. Mo cancelled on our regular Tuesday let off steam night becaue she had to work late, so I got a DVD and went home. I finished painting the trim in my hallway, made some dinner, watched Mambo Itialiano , did some yoga, and was in bed by 10.

In other news yesterday was a big mail day for me. I got two pacakges from Ginger! Thank You, Thank you, Thank you! One had pretty stuff like nail polish, lip gloss and fancy japanesse candy. And the other one had printouts from my friends LJ’s! YAY!
Thank you! Again! I love them!

Loud outside, Quiet inside

I fell asleep last night on the couch in my living room. The couch is surrounded on three sides by walls with HUGE banks of screened off windows that allowed the wind from the latest tropical storm to blow through my home. The rain poured down outside, the wind blew hard, lightning lit up the sky brilliantly, thunder rattled the floors of my little house on stilts and I drifted peacefully in and out of sleep. It is kind of wacky to be right in the middle of a wild storm and to feel perfectly safe, warm and peaceful.

Pisi (pee-see: busy) Tele (tely: very)

I have been trying now for at least the past six weeks at least to be out of bed by 6 am in order to get in some yoga before I go to work. I go to bed early, I get enough sleep and the alarm goes off and wakes me up at 6. Still I can’t seem to drag myself out of the bed until about 6:15. Which gives me enough time for just about 20 min of yoga… not as much as I would like. I wish I knew why or what would empower me to not have to linger for that extra 15 min. My only theory thus far is that at 6am it is still pretty dark here, but by 6:15 twilight has begun and the world is a bit brighter. Maybe it’s a sun thing. Maybe tonight I will try setting the alarm for 5:45 and see what that does.

Anyway, Mondays here are always wacky anyways. (More wacky than I remember them being at home anyway.) I always seem to forget something at home. Last week it was the DVD’s that needed to be returned. Today it was my wallet. Via (in this case a name, but also the word for water), our driver has graciously offered to run me up to my house both times to retrieve my forgotten items. I wonder where I placed my head, because it’s obviously not here at work. Which is a really bad thing since I have a ton of work to do today. I have several proposals to write and a presentation to finish before tomorrow.

Lots of teenagers

The career day yesterday was a lot of fun. The kids had no idea what a Resume (Curriculum Vite here) is much less why they needed to make one. Résumé’s are used here but anyone who has never had a professional job before wouldn’t have any idea what it was or how to make one. It’s wacky.
After discovering quickly that kids had no idea what I was talking about and I would have to explain myself better, I started by chatting with kids about what they thought they might like to do when they finished school. It was great to hear what the children dreamed of doing. There were a few that wanted to be lawyers and doctor. A lot of the girls answered “accountant” which seemed wacky to me but YAY for them! The boys typically wanted to be police men or fire men.
The kids are very nervous about passing their PSST’s which is the standardized tests here. They are given in English so unless you learn English you won’t even know how to read the test. Not passing the test means you can’t really get any job in Apia, which pretty much leaves you in some remote village retail job if you are very lucky, or working at home or on the plantation. I’m not sure how I feel about this.
English is the language of business and if Samoa wants to keep up it will have to know English. But the lack of opportunities for non-English speakers (or any group of disadvantaged) is disturbing.
Anyway the whole thing was a lot of fun and I am glad to have helped out.
After the event I went and saw “Something’s Gotta Give” at the theater with Sita, Sene and Beth. It was nice but the affluence in it always leaves me feeling…. Well with a feeling like my simple life is insufficient. Which it isn’t! It’s nice and peaceful. Even with out a Martha Stewart Kitchen and Pottery Barn house. Also let me comment that while Keanu Reeves character was really very charming, I still think he can’t act his way out of a bag.
The only disappointing part about yesterday is that once I got in to work this morning, I found out my Samoan Father had stopped by my work on Friday to visit me. None of my Samoa Aiga has visited me in Apia at all (accept the one time Mary and Lotu came to stay right after I visited them at Christmas). I am sooo sad. Maybe I just miss my own real daddy, so having missed my Tama Samoa is sad.
A new Thai place has opened up in town. {insert evil laugh} We are going to check it out tonight. Have a great rest of your weekend.

Lovely Rita Meter Maid

I am giving a Resume and cover letter writing workshop on Friday at the “Career Day” some of the other Volunteers are throwing. Year 12 and 13 (High School and Jr. College level) students from all over this island will be attending.
Now I have to figure out what I am going to say. (I just responded to a cry for help e-mail this morning and now I have to throw it together.)
It should be fun.
After the event on Friday I am planning on trying to get out to Siufaga to see my Aiga Samoa (Samoan Family). I plan to stay with the Friday night and come back on Saturday afternoon. I want to make some cookies and get a bottle of NuVoka (coconut hooch) to take with me as gifts.

In other news, I got my first set of bills. My electric bill is insane. Either my meter is broken or my hot water heater is far more expensive than it is worth. No matter, EPC is sending a crew to check my meter to make sure it is recording the units properly and I am shutting off my hot water heater tonight. I can turn it back on for special occasions, but for now no more hot showers for me. Which I have to admit will be much more like the Peace Corps experience I had imagined. (That is not a complaint BTW, I LOVED having running hot water. It is a luxury most other volunteers don’t have, and I was happy to not have to adjust to living with out it right away. But now it’s time and I am ok with it.) My SamoanTel bill was surprisingly less than I had anticipated. However at $67 it is still too high for me to keep up. Not that I made a lot of calls. Most of the calls I made were to home and consisted of “Hey, it’s me, call me right back.”. I am going to ask my family if we can set up a bi-monthly phone date and prearrange all other calls.

I am finally beginning to adjust to living on a PC salary. I was hoping it wouldn’t take me this long. Living a simpler life is nice. Adjusting to a simpler life after the Silicon Valley was not easy.

Stinky dog and I.

Please imagine if you will a dog with too much skin so he is saggy and wrinkled all over. He is blind and has icky eyes all the time. He always appears to have just been on the losing end of a dog fight so his head is covered in scratches and open sores. And I doubt he has ever had a bath in his life so he stinks to high heaven. This is my friend, Stinky Dog.

Stinky dog likes to sit on my front porch in the afternoons when I am gone to work and enjoy the cool breeze. I don’t blame him, my porch is nice. About a week ago I came home from work to find a gate on my front porch. I had requested the gate when I moved in two months ago, to keep Stinky Dog off my front porch. He would stink it up and leave behind blood and other ick that was seeping from his latest wound. I would have to scrub the porch once a week to keep it ick free. He has now taken up residence on my back porch. Which is fine, I don’t sit out there. He can have it. I will just hose it down every weekend.

So why don’t you try to bath Stinky Dog, and patch him up Dorie?
Well I had thought about that.
I have in fact I once tried to hose off stinky dog. He is less than keen. Stinky dog is really a wild dog. He belongs to my compound but that pretty much means he gets fed scraps and is then obligated to bark at unknown people who come onto the compound. Bathing him would require several more people (preferably large men) and even then someone is likely to be bitten.

The dogs here are treated much differently than domesticated dogs in the U.S. Here they are kept as tools for vermin control and security. They don’t really belong to a person (or people) as much as they belong to property. Sort of like a fence. It is just a different mentality from one culture to another. So as a result dogs tend to be more wild and packlike and not at all pet-ish.

This different mentality took me (and all of my training group) a while to come to grips with. At first the thought of people throwing rocks at dogs just seemed mean. (And I’m sure Deb will be horrified when she reads this.) I mean at home when anyone in my group of friends wanted to designate someone as a bad person, they said something like “I bet he kicks puppies too”. Cruelty to dogs is just not something we Americans stomach well. However the first time you find yourself innocently walking down your street and a pack of dogs comes running after you simply because you walked by, you learn real fast… These dogs are just different. Not physically, a dog is a dog is a dog. But they are treated differently here, so they behave differently here.

So Stinky dog and I have reached a state of mutual understanding. He moves away when I yell “Halloo” (which is actually alu, which means GO) as to not get any ick on me. I leave him my dinner scraps. He stays off my front porch (thanks to the new gate). I have stopped trying to bath or domesticate him in anyway. And he barks at strangers so I feel safer and never have unexpected guests.

Rain Rain go aw… Wait! NO stay please!

It rained almost all weekend. On Sunday morning Mika and I sat outside on my front porch with cups of hot tea and watched the tropical storm come down around us. It was beautiful. It was as if haven itself had sent the rain to clean house on it’s favorite island. And it worked! The drive to work this morning showed that everything is even more beautiful and lush after the rain.

It was a mostly uneventful and quiet weekend. Friday evening Jess and Jen came to stay from Faleula, and we saw The Last Samuri, which I have to admit, didn’t suck. (I’m not a big Tom Cruz fan, so I expected it to suck.) Saturday they made the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Saturday evening Mika and Paul came over and we made a big spaghetti dinner. And Sunday I had more time to hang with Mika and then I worked on finishing up the painting in the living room. I am really hoping to be done with the living room this week.
I was really dreading this weekend because so many wonderful things are going on at home. A bunch of people that I adore (and I am pretty sure they feel the same about me) are at Panthea in San Jose. The thought of missing all of the fun this year left me feeling lonely and isolated.
The other big deal this weekend was Deb and Tammy’s engagement party on Sunday. My sister said that they had rented a Karaoke machine and my Dad was going to DJ. “He knows enough corny jokes” Deb said. I feel like I have already missed so many important events in my sibling’s lives because I left home so early. Now here I am missing another HUGE event in her life. What I would have given to be able to be there this weekend to give a toast for the most wonderful sister in the world and her life partner.
I had to resolve all of this to the fact that I knew the PC meant making sacrifices. I made the decision with my eyes open. Now I just have to deal with the consequences. So I am dealing. I am not unhappy with my life here. I just wish I wasn’t missing fun/important things at home is all.

In other news. Piza is Funny. Hilarious even. Just a min ago we were talking (in a wacky broken mix of English and FaaSamoa) about a printer that the exec admin had. She asked me what was wrong with it. I told her that water had gotten into the print head and it was pretty much ruined, we could pay to have it fixed but it would be cheaper to just buy a new one. At which point she asked me how the water got in the printer, to which I shrugged and said “I don’t know and I didn’t think it was a good idea to ask.” She responded, “Maybe it was her tears”… We had a good laugh. A nice deep belly laugh
I don’t think I am laughing enough. Which is ironic in a country where the tagata (People) love to laugh. Laughing, especially good belly laughs are a great stress reliever for me. I think I need more of them.

Timu Tele!

Timu (Tea-moo: rain) Tele (tely: very, or a lot). So translated it means “Lots of rain”.
It rained all last night. It started raining just after I got home, and continued until the sun rose this morning. At one point it was raining so hard it woke me from a dead sleep. The island is cool at night when it rains and we all sleep better for it.
I used to need background music in order to fall asleep. After a few months here I have been broken of that. I have the crickets singing, gecko’s chirping, Roosters crowing (I know everyone thinks they only crow in the morning but at least here, they crow ALL THE TIME) the dog barking, and the wind and rain to lull me to sleep. It is far from quiet at my home.

After over a month of attending the coffee club I found out some new information today. Most of them get up at like 5:30 and attend 6 am mass everyday! The coffee club is an after mass event. I suppose I could get up and go to Mass with them. But I find it difficult to get myself out of bed by 6am as it is. And if you think about it I have my own little sort of church with my morning yoga.

I have a big “Spider” flower in my hair today. Lea gave it to me this morning. I wish I had my camera here to take a picture. It’s creepy looking, but in a spooky cool way.

Mmmmmm

It rained all night and was still raining in the early hours of the morning. The gentle rhythmic pitter patter woke me at about 5:45am. It was still dark out and a cool breeze blew into my bedroom. It felt glorious in the wee hours of the morning. The rain has cooled the island down a bit, and everyone seems to be enjoying the relief from the heat. The gray mornings remind me so much of home. The clouds roll in over the mountains from the south side of the island just as the fog rolls in off the ocean at home. I find the familiarity comforting.
I spent the next 30 min slowly being coaxed awake by geckos softly chirping outside my bedroom window. By 6:15 I was ready to climb out of bed and attempt some sleepy meditation and yoga. (I still need to get a hold of a yoga sticky matt, as I am sliding around my floor, especially when I try to downward dog.)
By 6:45 I was stretched out, relaxed and focused. The sun had almost fully risen above the horizon and it was time to get a move on. I would have to have breakfast, be showered, dressed, packed and ready to leave in 35 min.
Instead of rushing off, I stood a min and watched the Sun and rain and they vied for control over the days weather. I knew then it would be a good day.
Sometimes I still can’t believe this is my life. Pinch me someone.

Happy Mail day!

“Aso Lua” is the FaaSamoa for Tuesday. However I am decreeing that from now until about two years from now it here after be referred to as “Mail day” instead! So happy mail day to you all!
The mail comes in to the island on a plane twice a week, Monday and Wednesday. It takes the post office until Tuesday at noon for the mail to be ready for pickup. The peace corps admin staff goes to pick it up at 1:00pm and it is promised to us in our boxes by 3pm. So I look forward to 3:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Thursdays soon to be re-named something like “mail day part II” or “mail day redo” or maybe even “mail day reloaded” or some such other wacky name) Tuesdays are extra special tho because not only is it mail day but it is package day. Packages only come in on the first plane of the week. And to top it off is ”let off steam” night with Mo. Which means a beer, getting my ass kicked at pool, and eating sashimi (which I must admit I have moved on to actually liking). I always have a great time and feel much better afterwards.
I know that most of you get mail every day and it’s not big deal. But I don’t get bills or adds in the mail so when it comes it is very exciting!
I wish everyone something nice in the mail today.

Star light, Star bright

Saturday evening I left Bad Billie’s just after 10. Earlier we had had a few drinks and some Sashimi next door at the Lighthouse. After dinner we went next door to have a few more dinks and visit a friend who was bartending. But by 10 I was ready to head home to my book and bed. I got some flack going out the door because I always duck out just as the party really starts ramping up. What can I say; my homebody tendencies seem to have followed me here to Samoa. I am pretty ok with that.
I had to go back to the PC office before I could go home and decided I would make the short walk instead of getting in a cab. The moon had risen over the harbor and shone gloriously over everything. Moonlight reflected off the clouds, giving them a silvery wispy glow like what I imagine the wings of angles must look like. Stars speckled the sky and vied for attention in the bright night. A warm evening sea breeze blew in gently and seemed to surround me in a warm and comforting embrace. As I walked I was overcome with a sense of calm well being and peace. Sometimes I still can’t believe I live here in paradise.
There is something magical here. I felt something similar in Maui. Something different in the air (and I’m not talking about humidity). Something that lacks the oppression and speed of my former life. Not that I don’t still feel stress sometimes, it just bothers me less here. The only way I can think to describe it is that it feels like Pan is alive and well here. His light, playful, mischievous sprit lingers and beckons me to play with him every morning as I wake. It’s weird, and if Christianity wasn’t so prevalent here I would think the island had a very pagan feel. Maybe it’s just me.
Today the weather is rainy and gray, and it reminds me of home. There hasn’t been enough rain here this year so it is a very good thing. Not to mention, that when there is cloud cover all day the weather stays cooler. It makes me want to be out on the harbor in a popo (long canoe like boat with a stabilizing float on one end). Or maybe hiking in the jungle like mountains. Maybe this weekend will be nice and rainy as well.
Enough of this blathering. Have a great day!

My Peace Corps picture gallery now has 6 pages of pictures. I think it has 56 pictures.
I have more someplace but for now this will have to do. I even added a few more of me at the end.
I also started a gallery of other random pictures from before I left. There are some of the tea party in July and I want to add some from my going away shin dig at Darcy’s. Not to mention the most adorable pic of Gwynn and I.
Anyway go Here for a look.
(From here on out you will have to bookmark, or find the link on your own. I probably won’t mention it again)

What is Dorie up to? Well I will tell you.

I loved ROTK. It was long but not too long (IMHO).
I can’t wait for the extended version.
I went with some people from work and it was nice to hang out with Samoans.
I have been working on developing friendships with other volunteers, and it is really time for me to start working on relationships with Samoans. I have a few friendships in the people I work with and the ladies down in the coffee club. But I really need to invest more in these friendships.
They are going to be more difficult because I have less in common with then. But it is what I am here to do. So now I am doing it. And it was easier than I thought. We had a great time last night. The four of us (Piza, myself and the boys) went to Lighthouse and ate Sashimi (which I have shockingly grown to like, and even crave) and then headed over to the movie. The boys and I joked around a lot and we are developing a very Samoan sibling style relationship. They are a lot of fun and they take such good care of me.

This week I began working on the main project I came to EPC to do. I am here mostly to help implement the ERP system they purchased. So I started with process flow documentation and have been in meetings with management all week. I feel like I have gotten more done this week, than in the previous four weeks I have been working. It feels great! A really good part of this is that it brings my boss and I together which relieves some of the previous tension we had been feeling. I feel productive, like I am doing something important. Something to make the Power company more stable and better able to provide reliable services. Which in turn helps the whole country. Reliable services mean, better health conditions for one. When the power goes out, so does the water since most places run on pumps. Without water it can be very unsanitary. Not to mention that refrigeration goes out so food spoils and people get sick. So I can see how in the greater scheme of things I can make a big difference. Which is an amazing feeling!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good weekend!

YAY! Finally

I have to say one more time, Life is really good.
For a plethora of good reasons, my life is great.
Today however it is especially great because ROTK opens in Samoa today. I am going to see the 5:30 show. In fact I am going to go with Piza, Tam and Jacob (Tam and Jacob are the kick ass guys I work with. Pics of them soon). So not only am I going with people I like, but I am going to get to see a movie I have waited far to long to see.
I have been warned it is long, I am going to prep for that by taking a nice long walk before hand.

Hey look at me!

The big news today is that I have finally got a few pictures up and online.
Since I am uploading from 28.8 connection the going is slow.
I will be adding more shots over the next week or so but you can look right away if you would like.
http://www.wackyfish.net/gallery

Not so funny, funny story about my phone.

Remember all my “I can’t get a phone at home” angst?
The new SamoaTel yellow pages came out yesterday.
Low and Behold my home number is listed at the EPC after hours support number. You know, the number you call incase your power goes out after hours and you need it fixed ASAP. Yeah well they mixed up the real number with my HOME number. About 6 pm last night I started getting calls. After an hour of that I just shut off my ringer.
So for now I can’t really get phone calls at home unless I know they are coming and turn my ringer on.
As soon as I actually get my hands on one of these new yellow pages, I can take it over to the main SamoaTel office and complain. But my number will probably have to be changed. GRRRRRR… Phone troubles again!

On a completely different (sort of) note… Today at lunch I just baught Fabric AND shoes. Talk about retail spending. No worries they were things I had set aside the money to buy anyway. But now I have done all my fun shopping for the month. Cest la vie.

A house full of good company…

Let me start by saying, I had a great weekend, and I hope you did too!
Friday evening I spent with Jess and Jen and a few other volunteers from my group having dinner at Sunrise (A pretty good Chinese restaurant) and then seeing Mona Lisa Smiles. The ladies stayed at my house Friday night and we had a lovely Saturday morning doing yoga, making breakfast, talking and of course giggling. Now that training is over and our group has scattered to their posts, I miss them (and everyone else).
After our fun morning I went in to work to help out Piza and the data monkey boys with the end of month billing meter entires. I didn’t have to but I don’t mind as it was a good time listening to music and joking around with them as we worked. Not to mention that they take such good care of me that I am happy to be able to help them out when I can.
After work I went to Lynn’s (a local grocery store) and stocked up for the weekend. After which I went home and got he house ready for more company and then gussied myself up for the evenings festivities.
At 5 I went down to the PC Office and met up with Michael, Emma, and Song. I won’t give all the gory details of the evening; I will just sum it up. We started with expensive but very good Cosmopolitans, hit a few other bars, had dinner and ended up sitting around a bon fire telling jokes, being mellow, sharing backrubs and thoroughly enjoying just being together. Before midnight Michael, Emma, Song, and Walter (who gives great back rubs!) went back to my home and sat around talking into the wee hours of the morning before finally falling asleep.
Sunday we got up and all did yoga together and then Emma and I made French toast for breakfast. Something about weekend morning and breakfast with friends always makes me real happy. At 11 Walter and Emma and I headed out for some Super bowl fun at the Hotel Innsel. About 20 volunteers were there and we had a great time. I promised Mo I would cheer for North Carolina with her. It was a great game and we had fun ribbing the New England fans (even tho Carolina didn’t win). And it was really go to hang out with my girl (Mo is my closet friend here in Samoa and due to wacky time commitments we haven’t been able to see each other much these days).
Sunday night Paulo showed up at my house around 9 and we hung out for a while. He stayed in the guest room last night. This morning he asked me if I had ever considered running a Bed and Breakfast. I took it as a big compliment.
I am glad that people find my home to be comfortable and fun. I really enjoyed my friends this weekend.