It has been a wet week.
Which is funny since it is the dry season and the “dead of winter” here.
My mom got up with me yesterday to pack a lunch for Mo and I. (I suspect my mother is suffering from a mild case of empty nest since Deb and James moved out and indulging by spoiling me… I am not complaining!) She mentioned that it had been raining all night and didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. This was a particular concern for her because she wanted to do some laundry but claimed that my “Dryer is broken”. (My dryer being the sun. I have to line dry everything. And it was a rainy day. “Broken dryer”… hahahaha… funny mommy!)
I told her not to worry and that, yes it IS in fact the dry season and that as soon as the sun came out in an our or two the rain would burn off and her “Dryer” would once again be in working order. I then left to go have coffee with the Aunties like I do every work day (and many Saturdays as well these days).
I sat in the coffee shop with Pisa and told her that I assured my mother the rain would burn off soon. Pisa agreed with me… the sun would surely burn off. And Pisa is right about everything else soooo I felt much better about my proclamation.
It then proceeded to rain ALL DAY.
I felt like an idiot.
But hey I have a Mommy and Daddy here visiting so I am still a lucky girl… and with all this rain lately… A lucky duck.
Ok here is the “week in Savii report” and a little bit more.
Monday: we ran some errands and then headed for the Ferry. The boat ride was miserable (Dorie hates boats) but mercifully short (one hour and 15 min). The first stop of the afternoon was to climb all over a HUGE lava field. We saw the remains of two Churches and a grave that the lava “miraculously” left uncovered. Then we were off to swim with the turtles. I got to swim with, touch and just generally commune with big sea turtles. I could swear I heard one of them say “Duuude, come on in, the water is great, man!” It was very “Finding Nemo”. We stayed at the Turtle place over night in over water Fales where you were woken in the middle of the night to the sounds of fish jumping or turtles surfacing for air (or may just curiosity).
Tuesday: We got up, swam with the turtles again. Fed the turtles (they are NOT vegetarian BTW). Then headed up the road a little way to Manase to a resort called Vacations. The Food at Vacations was AMAZING! We had lobster for dinner. We did some snorkeling there (it wasn’t nearly as neat as at Lalomano). And we took lots of time to read, rest and talk. Oh and… eat. Did I mention the food was GREAT?
Wednesday: Wednesday morning we laid around a bunch because it was raining, but about 10 am it stopped and we packed up and left. The first stop was a trip up to see a crater. It was a long bumpy drive (that I wasn’t sure we would make in our non-4x4 car) and then a 2 K walk. I was worried about Mom’s knee but she did fine. We finished our crater adventure (complete with meeting “Da Craterman”) and then headed out to Falealupo… the last place on earth. Samoa is in the last time zone before the International Date Line. There are no other islands between Samoa and the IDL, so the western most place in Samoa could be considered… the last place on earth. And that is just were we spent the night. The sunset was amazing! We had a small mishap there tho… I dragged mom and dad out to look at some tide pools on lava rocks and my mom ended up slipping and hurt her shoulder. She tried to play it off like she was fine, but having a bit of experience in shoulder injuries I knew she was NOT fine.
Thursday: In the morning my mother admitted she was hurting and wanted to head back to see a doctor a day early (which I was happy to do). We had breakfast, pack up the car, and then headed out to see if we could get the 2pm boat back to Upolo (my/the other island). On the way we stopped to see the main Blowholes. An ancient lava field meets the ocean and the waves have worn away week spots in the lava creating tunnels… when the waves crash against the tunnels it shots water up the top 100 feet in the air. A local man threw coconuts into the blow holes so we could watch them fly towards the sky when the waves came in. Dad got lots of video footage for his earth sciences classes. We got the 2pm boat and the ride was once again miserable (Dorie loathes boats even more now) but we met up with Josie (another volunteer) and had a lovely chat. Once we got back to town, our Med officer gave us a tip as to were to take mom to see a good doctor. Then we went and found Mo and took her to dinner at the Yacht club and to a movie (The Day After Tomorrow).
Friday: mostly we ran errands and got mom in to see a Dr. and have some x-rays. She is fine. No fractures just some torn muscle tissue. She is taking it easy and relaxing.
Saturday: In the morning we did nothing… yup nothing. In the afternoon Dad and I headed out for Siufaga, my training village, to meet my Samoan Family. Dad taught Lotu, my 8 year old sister how to play connect four and then proceeded to beat her a lot at it. I am shocked she didn’t just quit on him. Losing a bunch suck…especially when you are 8.
Sunday: Dad and I got up super early and went to the Catholic church service with my Samoan Parents. After church we packed up and came home, where we pretty much also did nothing all day. In the evening we got together with Carrie and Mo and had dinner and saw a movie… I think I mentioned it… it was lots of fun!
So the part I enjoy the most about there visit is all the talking we are doing. We talk about all kinds of things. I always knew my folks were neat and interesting people. Having not spent this much time with them… ever in my adult life, I guess it has been nice to get to know them as adults.
I know it has been forever since I have posted.
I am debating wither or not I should post a list of what we have done.
I have already typed out a list but it seems sooo “what I did over the summer” report ish.
Maybe eventually I’ll get around to posting it.
For now please let me say that I am having a great time, and so are my parents.
My mom hurt her shoulder in Savii last week but she is mostly fine and still managing to have a lot of fun.
I am back at work for the week and while I had a great time on leave playing with my parents I am happy to be back into my routine. I find a lot of comfort in it. Especially since my days are filled with things I like…
I am back to daily yoga (which slagged while we were in Savii) and on Saturday we had a very small class so my teacher gave us an hour of what she calls “Yoga Trace Dance”. It was a ton of fun!
Oh also noteworthy… last night we (mom dad and I) hung out with Carrie and Mo. We saw a movie and then we girls made them dinner. It was a riot. I have to say I miss big chaotic dinners, were everyone loves to talk and joke and have a good time. I hope we get a few more while they are here.
This week mom and dad are just going to relax at my house and bum around town. Next week are off to the Cook Islands for a week.
I will be around this week so there will be more posts to come.
Hope everyone had a great week last week.
Fresh water cave pools in Piula, very James Bond-ish.
Dinner at Bass’s Indian restaurant.
Trip to the vegetable market.
Drove to Lalumanu on the other side of the island (best beach on this island)
Dinner at Sails (real nice place in town)
Church at the Bahi temple (Oh oh oh! We met Princess Malietoa after the service)
Saw Shrek 2!
Tomorrow we head out to Savii for the week. Monday night we are staying overnight at the National Turtle preservation, were we will get to swim with and feed giant sea turtles (Eat your heart out Debbie!) The rest of the week promises to be just exciting.
But I will have to tell you about it when we get back on Friday as we are not likely to have an internet connection at any point.
I hope everyone is having as good of a time.
Mom and Dad got here Thursday morning at about 2:00am. I took Carrie and Mo with me to the airport to meet them. We greeted them with big smiles and sleepy eyes!
Thursday after a brief nap (we got to bed around 5am ish…) we got up and I make Mom and Dad breakfast. Then we were off to run errands. We went to the Car rental place, to exchange money, make reservations for the boat to Savii, and accommodations while we are there, and about a hundred other places. By the time we got ice cream later that afternoon we were all bused. So we went back to Fale Dorie for a nice nap before we headed out to the best Fia Fia (Like a Samoan version of the Luau) in town. The singing and dancing were great and the fire dance show was amazing! I ate ate ate so much food.
Today we are off to the cave pools at Piula!
We have already spent a lot of time hanging out and talking and just being together. It is wonderful! It is so good to be with my parents!
I hope everyone else is having a great time.
A friend of mine recently asked me “How is your Peace treating you?” It was a strange question but the friend who asked me is a little strange so I didn’t think too much about it other than to answer. “My Peace is treating me well, thank you!”
I wanted to describe what my peace is like to him but I found that is a state that is rather unexplainable. I know I worry less, have a lot less stress and have found a sort of detachment from many things that allows me to remain unbothered in most circumstances that would have previously bugged me to say the least. My state of peace brings me to a place were I am being present with myself in every moment attempting to just experience whatever it is now that I supposed to be experiencing. I get plenty of down time for reflection and processing so this works for me. That is about the best I can describe my current peace.
We had a short discussion about peace and I needed to find a word that described the opposite of peace. “Anti-peace” is the best I have yet come up with. At first glance I though Chaos was the opposite, but that as some negative connotations attached to it that I don’t really want. Then I thought maybe “Learning times” would be a good description of the opposite of peace. But that is wrong too. I am still learning and growing even though I am in a state of peace. I am still challenged and stretching the limits of myself. Just now I do it in a peaceful way. And I don’t necessarily think that one state is better than the other (peace v.s. anti-peace). I think they are both appropriate at different times in our lives. Sometimes learning and growth can be achieved in peace, and sometimes they can’t, hence the need for anti-peace.
BAH, look at me get al metaphysical, I will stop now. Hopefully before I sound like tooo much of an idiot.
I know a lot more about running a power company than I ever though I would.
I know things about power generation, allocation, transformers and infrastructure construction that I never imagined I would need to know…
I wonder if this information will be useful (well more useful) someday.
{insert pregnant pause, full of foreshadowing here}
Have I mentioned that the part of my job that I enjoy most is the part where I just get to hang out with Samoan employees and work on their computer confidence skills?
Am I making a sustainable contribution? I have no idea. These things seem to work out on an individual basis. I am helping to build a technology infrastructure here at EPC. And that could be sustainable. Especially since the plan is for me to hire and train a staff to maintain said infrastructure. I am trying not to get too attached tot hat plan however since something things just don’t work out here like they are planned to.
Oh yay! Look I’m thinking about development issues again.
We got a new office last week, but now we are being moved to another new office… The server room and out office are being moved down a few doors and all the work is supposed to be done this weekend. This weekend when I will be out on leave having fun with my parents. I am suffering a mild case of guilt over this. I’m sure it will be fine.
Mom and Dad are now less than 48 hours from being here. I am finding myself often too excited to sit still. Fortunately I have a Yoga class this evening that I am hoping will help. So far the plan is to spend the first few days in town and taking small day trips to fun places like Palolo Deep and the Falefa Cave pools. Next week we head off to see Savi’i. I have never been so I am very excited. Dad wants to take a lot of pictures for his earth sciences classes. Hopefully we will find some things of interest for him.
I may not be around to update much while they are here. I hope everyone has a lovely few weeks anyway.
I go to bed regularly at about 9:30 pm.
I get up at about 6 am, in order to get in a half an hour of yoga.
I eat healthy things that I hated before, like egg whites and sashimi.
I have been known to enjoy a beer (or three).
I buy clothing very infrequently.
I only have 4 pairs of shoes.
I wear a big floppy hat and sunscreen daily.
Who is this person I have turned into? I swear sometimes I don’t recognize myself anymore.
But I guess it’s ok because I feel GREAT!
I now have an office, with a desk, and a phone (E-mail me if you want my overseas work number). It’s wacky.
I’m not sure that I will be spending a whole lot of time in my office (complete with desk and phone) as I spend most of my days with users doing training and computer confidence building. Which is just as well. The AC is broken in my office and I have to share it with my Boss/Counterpart guy anyway.
Wacky
I went to the airport last night with about 20 other volunteers to meet the new group of trainee’s. They looked so “All American”. I’m sure we must have looked just the same 8 months ago. I guess it doesn’t take this place to long to get under your skin (literally and figuratively. You should see how much earth lives under my fingernails these days.) and change things about you, including your appearance.
It was really neat to see that familiar look of shock and awe staring back at me from their faces. It was not to long ago that I was the one wearing that mug. I remember being so enamored by the volunteers when I got here. They seemed to know everything already and to be having a really good time. While I had just arrived, didn’t know anything, and desperately wanted to avoid an embarrassing digestive incident that would make me look and feel silly, therefore impeding my own good time.
So now the experienced volunteer is me. I mean I don’t claim to know everything but I am far less green than I was. It just reminds me how far I have come. I only have about 18 months left to go. It is something I am both sad and excited about.
My office exploded. Which sort of sounds like a scene from Harry Potter. Can’t you just see me waving a wand while saying some fun latin sounding words and my office going up in sparks and smoke. (I have a wee bit of HP3 viewers envy for those of you whom have seen it. I’m sure it won’t get here for a while.) Unfortunately that is not quite how it happened.
My office here at EPC is typically Samoan in that no one is ever really in any rush to get anything done. Which doesn’t mean we don’t get things done, it just means that productivity stress is almost non-existent in an office setting. I had to qualify this with “almost” because this morning a very unusual thing happened. Ok really a series of things, the details of which are rather mundane and uninteresting. Sufficed to say I had about 5 URGENT requests fall into my lap (they were all sort of interconnected requests). I spent about an hour sorting it all it out at top Dorie speed which left my Samoan co-works dazed and a bit awed…
After everything was fixed, and my project (the Service Order process) was once again humming along on it’s own, Pisa called up the coffee shop to order morning tea for us. She made me sit down, eat a donut, drink some coffee and relax. She was looking out for me and worried that I had gotten too tired and stressed. I have to say this is one of the reasons I love Samoa. In the work environment here we can sit back and take work slowly, or if we have to hurry and get things done. And If we have to hurry, rush, or stress, there is a nice break to recover right around the corner.
In other news…. I get to call myself “Bendy Mc Bends a lot” now!
I had a GREAT yoga class last night!
Taialofa, my yoga teacher is a very interesting woman. (check out her web site bio at http://www.taialofa.com/biography)
She told me last night after class that I am beautiful. I am assuming she meant my yoga form. I’m so glad I have been practicing lately. We worked on a position called “The Crow” which has you balancing you legs on your arms in this wacky squatted position and then lifting them off the ground. This position reminded me of my Nonnie girl, because the first (and only) yoga class we took at our had us trying this. She and I just laughed and thought… “No way”. Now I can almost get both feet off the ground!
Anyway I always feel so great after her classes! I should go more often but they are kind of expensive (10 tala a class, eeeep). She has a DVD for sale on her web site I may try and get. That way I can do her workout at home and just supplement with the real thing now and then.
YAY YOGA!
I wish I had my digital camera.
I want to take pictures of my tomato plants. Not only have I managed to not kill them but they are nice and healthy and getting big. Maybe I want to document proof. The basil on the other hand while not dead is suffering some burn damage to many of its leaves. I moved it the back porch where it will get a lot less sunlight. I am hoping that helps.
Also I would like to have taken pictures of my birthday party and the gift I got (Jess and Jen made me this amazing hemp necklace with handmade beads and a beautiful shell I found). I have a few pictures of me in “the dress” that a friend took, but it may be a while before I get them and get them posted.
No worries tho, my parents had it replaced and will be bringing the new one with them. I just wish I had it now.
Speaking of which, they will be here in less than 10 days now.
Maybe I had better get that leave request in ASAP so I can go play with them.
Oh and I have to go talk to Soni about he rental car, and figure out what we are going to do in Savii. Plus get a water cooler with spring water for them and put together their Samoa “welcome/survival kits”. Eppp I have more to do than I thought.
I am back at work this week. With two holiday days last week and EST the week before that I feel like I haven’t spent much time here. The break has been nice but I am happy to be back and feeling productive.
This morning we changed a big part of the process for my project that required that we include a whole new department in the process. Which is nice, because things are running better now, but it was a very busy morning getting everything together and cleared up.
So at about 12:15 when I went to go some print outs and Pisa said to me “I’m going to Sunrise” (local Chinese food place) I replied “I’m going with you”.
As a typical Samoan Pisa got me a huge plate load of food, and I being hungry at it all.
After which I leaned back, patted my tummy and in my best Samoan groaned “Ai kele” which means “I ate to much”.
At which point Pisa and my boys commented that I had crossed the line and am now a real Samoan.
Yesterday was a good day.
I had coffee with the aunties in the morning.
Took a half-day at work (which was crazy).
Had a nice lunch with friends.
Talked to my family
Saw a great movie (I recommend “In America” if you haven’t yet seen it).
Had dinner at the Yacht Club with friends and a few drinks at our local hang out.
It was simple, low key and very very nice.
Tonight however may not be quite as low key.
I just spent about two hours with Fortuna, one of our lead customer service agents here at EPC. Basically I just sat with her and watched her work on the new system. She had some new tasks to do this week (Meter Change request processing to be specific) and she is not feeling terribly confident about her abilities. And when I say abilities I mean everything from how find her way around our AS400 system to how to type and use the mouse.
Anyway I started out the session by prompting her at each step what to type, press, change, click etc. After the first hour she began to feel a bit more confidant and was running the bulk of the job without my prompting. I then only chimed in when she felt stuck or there was something new she hadn’t seen before. At the end of our time together I was basically just observing.
We (well she really) processed and closed about 15 Meter Change service orders. And she is feeling much more confidant about her abilities. I gave her homework of playing solitaire on the computer at least twice before she went home to help with her mouseing skills.
I have to say the whole teaching/tutoring/mentoring part of my gig is pretty darn neat!
On an entirely different note… I spent most of the morning prior to the above session attempting to figure out why we had no Internet connection (well we had one but it kept dropping for no good reason). Turns out SamoaTel (monopoly phone company here) was trying to take our lease line back. We paid them, but they thought they should get it back anyway… funny eh. The real sad part is that this happens quasi frequently.
The answer is... nothing. No really, just about nothing. (Which is not really nothing but close.) I spent the last two days sleeping late, hanging out with friends and laying around reading trashy magazines. Oh and I cleaned my house this morning... which lead to more laying around reading trash magazines (what can I say doing dishes and laundry wore me out.) Later I plan to rent some DVD’s and lay around some more.
I feel mildly guilty having missed most (well all really) of the going on’s for Independence Day (unless you count watching the parade and boat races on TV). But not too bad.
I hope everyone else is having as pleasant a begging of June.
In 1962 Samoa became the first Pacific Island to gain independence after the colonial age. Previously most if not all Pacific Islands had been ruled by New Zealand, England, German and the French. Today is the 42 Independence anniversary celebration.
This morning there was a big parade and this afternoon there will be a big FiaFia (like talent show of traditional songs and dances).
It is a beautiful day. The sun is out and there is a nice cool breeze.
I wish you were all here to enjoy it with me.