We went to the Fia Fia at Aggie Grey hotel last night.
It was pretty mediocre. But Max got to see some tradition Samoan songs and daces and of course the spectacular fire dancing. I had been feeling guilty about not showing him more of the traditional Samoan aspects of life here.
I was supposed to take care of getting a rental car for Monday and Tuesday, and I put it off. Now nothing is available. So I’m not sure of our plans for next week. This could be not good.
The air was still and hot in the Fale, so we got up and moved to the beach. A breeze was coming in off the ocean so we put a blanket down on the sand and got out our books. Over the next hour or so the sky turned brilliant colors of blue, purple, orange and red, and reflected this beauty onto the clouds that obscured the sun. We laid on our back and pointed up at cloud shapes giggling at the images we found there. We failed to notice the tide coming in and a warm wave of the Pacific Ocean leaped up and caressed our legs and feet. It sent me squealing and him giggling at me. So I felt that sandy and wet it was my duty to start the tickle fight that ensued. (It is my GREAT fortune that my best friend is ticklish while I am not. I am evil, I know. )
The days pass mostly the same. We talk, we laugh, we share wonder and awe at the world around us. It is nice. I tell myself that this time is a gift. A brief reprieve from the distance. That it is not meant to be “gotten used too” and that being in the now is the best thing I can do. The best thing for me, for him, for everyone involved.
Anyway, things are slow here at work, so I am going to take the rest of the afternoon off. I’m sure we will find some fabulous adventure to have together today.
I wish you all wonderful adventures as well.
There really isn’t a whole lot to say.
Well... No... There is a whole lot to say, but not now.
So I just need to cover a few things quickly before I get back to... whatever it is that we are doing.
1. We are free from the effects of the recent earthquake in Asia and resulting tsunami. Thank you tho, to those of you who worried. It is nice to know you are thinking about us.
2. Jess you are the package goddess! The Christmas stuff was WONDERFUL! and really helped ring in the joy at my house.
3. Gwynn, T & M and all the other who sent stuff with Max, I opened the presents and I loved them! Thank you! Thank you Thank you! Oh also, Mia says thank you as well.
4. A special thanks to Cecilia’s Mom, who sent me a little gift (via her daughter) because she likes wackyfish. Gifts from strangers are neat, and I’m glad you like the site!
So that’s it. We are soon off to a Sunday night movie and hopefully to find some dinner.
Max is here.
He is here on my island.
So far we have spent a lot of time trying to catch up on sleep from the sheer exhaustion brought on by the excitement of seeing each other. I think last night we both finally got some sleep. A few things.
1. Max is funny.
2. He smells good.
3. He is funny.
On Monday we head out to Savai’i. We haven’t made a whole lot so plans or done much preparation in hopes that we will have a crazy “see what happens” adventure. I’ll let you know how that goes later.
Ok, I’m not going to say anymore because… it’s private.
Hope everyone has a great week.
I keep telling myself that time is all relative.
Time seems to be moving in super slow motion today.
The waiting is never easy. But today I count the hours, the min, the seconds.
Soon, I tell myself… soon.
Ohhhh the familiar feeling of aliens in my tummy is back today. Only now I think they may be unionizing and plotting to overthrow me for control of our body. I blame the puaa I felt obligated to eat at a party the other night.
In other news, I got to spend part of yesterday with Jona, one of my favorite tama Samoa. He is the bartender at our favorite dive in town and gives all the PCV cheaper drinks. He lives just down the street from me. We sat on my porch and discussed how cool twilight is. That is the time when the divide between the world of spirits and the world of man goes all fuzzy and blurs so all manner of things are possible. It was great, and kind of strange. Our conversation got even more fanciful and philosophical from there. It is nice to have local friends. It’s nice when they surprise you and take you someplace you haven’t been in while.
Wow Tagata Samoa (Samoans) know how to have a good time! It is high party season here and yesterday I had three holiday parties to attend. Yes folks three in one day. One was the party of Auntie Illi and the other two were EPC parties. Fortunately I manage to behave myself and stay out of trouble. Although I did get several marriage proposals, so I wasn’t tooo good. The exhausting part is that this is just the beginning. There are several more weeks of holiday celebrations to go.
Changing the subject rapidly…
I have to go back to school.
I have to do it as soon as I can.
The further I delve into figuring myself out (not that I am anywhere near close to figuring anything out mind you) the more I find that my lack of education has a much greater effect on my self perception that I had figured. I think someplace; somewhere I don’t think I am capable. Which logically is … just crap… of course I am capable.
Anyway, school yeah.
We sat under my covered patio last night at twilight listening to the approaching rain. The sky was full of clouds as the last rays of sun light fought to make there final appearance of the day. At first we heard a quiet pattering noise far off in the distance. It was the sound the feet of small children make when several of them run barefoot through the fale. Smack smack, smack. The gentle breeze blew over the patio causing my colorful prayer flags to do a little dance for us. A few min pass in close silence. Then the sound of rain began to grow. It was coming nearer and picking up noise and force on it’s way. Like the sound several motorcycles revving their engines at a red light. Vroom, vroom, vroom. The last rays of light disappeared, transforming instead to a vague muted glow on the horizon. The sound continued to grow. The wind picked up blowing the small wisps of hair not confined to a dreadlock on my head, into my face and tickled my nose. Minuets pass. Sound grows. Finally it sounds like a Mac truck barreling down a highway. The rain is very near.
We sit on the edge of our seats. Waiting, listening, feeling, holding our breath.
And despite the anticipation we are completely surprised when the victorious cloud conquers the line of trees at the edge of the property and pours into our world. It bangs on the aluminum covered roof, as if delivering a promised beating. It soaks everything we can see (but us, sitting safe, covered and protected) in this tiny little piece of the world. As if to say “I win”. We cheer the rain, like a home team at a football game who just scored. Have I mentioned I love the rainy season.
(I have to give props on this one to Andrew who commented and got me thinking I should write this… so props.)
Several Weeks ago I got an amazing package from T&T. (Thank you guys again soo much!) One of the goodies in the package was a box of chocolate cake mix and some frosting. When my housemate saw this she encouraged me to indulge and make the cake right away. It was an easy sell. However at the time I had lent out my large baking dish to a friend and only had a small one in the house. So we made two small chocolate cakes. One of which between the two of us we ate over the course of the next three days. The other small chocolate cake (with chocolate frosting). I took into the coffee shop for the Aunties in the morning.
The aunties loved it. They ate it all up and asked for more.
My Auntie Lea took home an extra piece for her husband. She told me later that she ate it herself as soon as she got home, instead of saving it for him.
This morning, over two weeks later… The aunties were still raving about how good the cake was. Auntie B who never eats cake, said it was wonderful. Auntie Lea said I must bring more. And Auntie Juno marveled at how moist it was. Who knew I could make so many Aunties happy with Cake.
It rained all last night.
I hope it keeps raining for the next few days.
The rain suits my mood. This is strange since I am not really sad. I am pretty excited actually. I think I would be the sort of person who would do well living someplace like Seattle.
My best friend is coming to Samoa to visit me over Christmas. I thought I would be really busy trying to wrap up work before he got here. Turns out most of my projects have been called off until after the first of the year. Which means I have a week to relax and plan some fun adventures for us. Not to mention, Samoans love holiday parties, so I have several to attend this week.
The laundry has been on the line for about three days now.
As soon as it gets almost dry enough to take down, it rains again.
My mother would say that my dryer is broken.
I do have some clothes lines inside.
The laundry should be brought in.
I love the rainy season. (And I’m not even being sarcastic.)
I was reading Madeline Albrights biography. I had to put it down for a while. The parts on Bosnia, Kosovo, and other wars in the Baltic states just got to be to heavy for me right now. I think it is a sure sign that I am becoming more fragile. Or at least my skin is growing thinner. I guess this is a natural result of everyone being nice to you all the time. Have I mentioned that everyone is really nice to me here... All the time.
It was easy to get used too.
In turn I started being someone I though of as a “nicer” person. I see that I treat people (and myself) differently. It is a slower, more gentle treatment of those around me. I like this new “nicer” person. But I fear she won’t last long back in the world I come from. I suspect that I am free to be this new person not just because everyone is nice to me but the niceness is disarming and allows for far fewer walls and defenses.
For now I am enjoying her. Which I guess is good enough.
So today is a beautiful day in Samoa. The sky is partially cloudy which means some relief from the heat. The humidity is bearable, largely due the lovely ocean breeze. And I have just hung a new set of prayer flags over my front porch. They blow back and forth in the breeze, waving at me in royal blue, blood red, sunflower yellow, and pine tree green. It is like a peaceful rainbow greeting.
I am mildly concerned that they will alarm my neighbors and my cleaning lady (oh yeah, hey I got a really neat cleaning lady to come several times a week to help out. More on that later.) They are written in Sanskrit and being a largely Christian country they may upset someone. Tho the prayers may go unnoticed since the colors are brilliant and lovely. But I am willing to wait and see.
I guess I don’t have a whole lot to say today, other than I hope everyone had a nice peaceful Sunday.
It is the 2nd of December and rapidly approaching my “one year left” date. I find myself immensely homesick and at the same time I have begun to consider… an extension.
I am considering serving 2 more years in the PC when I am done here in Dec 2005. Often Country directors can work out an extension/transfer with other countries. Which means I could transfer to just about any country that has a program I am qualified for. So I am baffled at myself for feeling so compelled to go home while at the same time excited at the prospect of continuing my PC adventures. I am not making any decisions for a while however. Given the volunteer cycle of emotions this all could change tomorrow. Not to mention I’m sure the holiday season is a big factor in what I am feeling.
In reality I have a pretty good life here. It is not extravagant, or luxurious by western standards. And sometimes it’s down right difficult. But it is safe and I have everything I need. I even have a few things I just want. So I guess we all will just have to wait and see what choices I make, because at this point I don’t even know.
The group one year ahead of me will start COSing (leaving) at the end of the week. It is mildly traumatic. I never was good at goodbyes. And if I am close to people I tend to want to avoid the whole goodbye process even more. I am close to several people in the outgoing group. I am going to miss them a lot. But they all have exciting world adventures in the works and I am thrilled for them and look forward to hearing their tales of adventure. It is just another part of the PC cycle.
I think there may be a cyclic theme in my life right now… hummmm
I am probably going to take a few more.
I woke up this morning to the sound of gentle rain. It was 40 min later that it should have been. Something about the rain is always very pacifying for me. Hopefully it will rain for the next couple of days. We still need the rain pretty badly. The EPC hydro plants are still offline because of low reservoir levels. Which means that our generators are all running diesel. Diesel, which is not only exorbitantly expensive but not so great for our environment either.
In other news, I have a pretty bad case of Mago mouth. It is a condition were the corners of your mouth get raw and swollen. This could be from the three huge mago I ate yesterday. I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t worth it. I figure that mago’s are my new “eat yourself sick once a year on cherry’s” kind of thing.