Wackyfish

Trips

I am headed back to Lalomanu for the weekend. We are having our volunteer July 4th Picnic/celebration there on Saturday. It is supposed to be a real low key event. I am hoping it will be a low key event anyway. We honestly didn’t put a whole lot of effort or planning into it. Mostly we just picked a time and place, made our own reservations and told everyone else to do the same. Lots of people I love are going so it should be a good time.
In other news I have been spending some time with Mo planning our trip to New Zealand. It looks like we have a rental car lined up for the whole time we will be there. I wanted to take the train from Wellington to Auckland but this is cheaper and gives up more flexibility with our itinerary. Last night Mo and I pretty much mapped out our driving route and made a tentative plan of things we wanted to do and were we wanted to be when. We have several places to stay with friends or friends of family, so we are really only going to need accommodations for about half the time we are there. I have been browsing Hostel sites for a few days. I am so excited about the trip I could scream.

It is raining. Thank Goddess.
It has been dryer than normal for the past few weeks and everyone was afraid that the dry season would come early. The dry season usually starts around the end of August and goes until October or November. It gets really bad. Some villages are with out water for months at a time. My village usually doesn’t lose water completely. But we do get limited to only several hours a week. Which is most just inconvenient. Especially since we never quite know when it will be on and off. I am thinking that this year I need to find a couple of young sole’s to help me shelp water up the stairs into my house. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

Drama Dog

My dog is so cool. Or manipulative… one of the two.
She usually pouts for a bit after I give her “The Torture” (a bath). Just until I can let her outside to go roll around in the dirt and get the “clean” smell off of her. So I usually wait a few hours until she is mostly dry so the dirt doesn’t stick to her.
On Saturday after the torture I turned on the ceiling fan in the living room for her to lie under and dry faster. She skulked over to her under the fan spot and pouted for a bit. Sooner rather than later she turned off the pouting because she knows that it doesn’t really bother me. Then I got a phone call from some friends who said that the power had gone out in their village and they wanted to know if they could come up to my house and use my oven to make some food for a gathering we were all attending that evening. I agreed and they showed up at my house shortly. As soon as the girls walked in the door Mia went into “Super drama queen” mode. She would wander into the kitchen where her “audience” was and throw herself dramatically on the floor. She would lay there and sigh deeply, repeatedly. She gave them the sad puppy eyes. Mia is adorable and convincing so of course they bought it. Which had me explaining to them why she was not allowed outside for a while, and that she was just hamming it up for them. I’m sure they were thinking that I am cruel dog owner. This doesn’t bother me much. I know the truth. She didn’t end up getting her way and as soon they left she turned it off and because a sweet puppy again.
It was mostly a quiet weekend. I got to do some Yoga both Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday evening was a double birthday party for some friends. I stopped by for about an hour. Sunday Mikaele and Mo made a lovely brunch at my house and in the evening we saw Batman Begins and had pizza.
Today I have a lot of projects to work on here at work and I want to get some recipes typed up for the PC cookbook. The current one is at least 20 years old and another one of the volunteers is revising it and has asked for recipes.
What are you working on today?

Pre-paid

There is no credit system here.
Which makes collecting bills on time (or sometimes at all) an interesting challenge.
EPC implemented a pre-paid system that requires you to pre buy power on your meter. We are installing these systems on many of the outstanding accounts. The whole process has been a very interesting experience. The general attitude about money here is very different from home. That is not to say it is any better or worse. It is just different. I wonder how much of these different perceptions and values I will keep when I go home. There are some I would really like to hold onto for myself. And there are others I will be glad to re-adjust out of.

Oy

The past few days have been quite eventful.
So eventful that I haven’t had a chance to write about them until now.
Tuesday we played host to the US ambassador for New Zealand and Samoa. It was a day full of fun events. Including an accident that landed me with a nearly black eye. Today I don’t have much bruising but a lot of swelling and scratches just to the left of my left eye. I can see and I am fine now.
I had to spend most of yesterday recovering.

We fake orange our cheese

On Sunday morning Mo came over and brought some Colby cheese from New Zealand. We ate it with eggs and corn tortillas (that Mikaele brought back from the States for us).
It was good. New Zealand cheese is really good stuff but there is no accounting for when it will be in stock or when we will have the money to splurge on it.
Later in the evening Pele wanted Quesadilla’s so I busted into my reserve cheese supply and got out the block of Tillamook Colby cheese my aunt sent me. (She is a saint that woman!) As I graded it I was surprised at how orange it was. So I tasted it. It tasted just as good as the New Zealand Colby cheese. The NZ cheese however was white, not day glow orange. At which point I remembered hearing something in the past about how Americans colored our cheese. Looking at the ingredients on the label did in fact show that orange dye was an ingredient.
Why do we (Americans) color our Cheese?
It seems a bit silly to me, but then I have never really been a fan of the color orange so maybe had the cheese industry chosen a more appealing color (like purple or blue) I would feel differently.

You wanted to know about some of the people in my life...

My neighbors are moving back to Australia.
They were only here for a year, but Darren (the father) got a better job offer and now they are off soon. I really enjoyed them as neighbors and I had the added benefit of using there house girl a few hours a week. I am likely going to lose her as she will have to find another family to work for full time. Oh, well it was nice while it lasted.
Pisa and Keri came to the Fiafia last week. I introduced them to Leata as my Samoan Matua (Parents). I figured it was fair. They pretty much are. I also got to spend a lot of time with Sala (Jona’s little sister) at the fiafia. She is about 13 and looks up to me. I can’t tell if she is so amused because I am Palagi or because I am old, unmarried, live alone and do whatever I want. Whatever the reason she is neat and I am glad to have another young person to influence. Besides it has been a long long time since I had a little sister.
Anyway here we are.

It is pretty outside today and I am stuck inside. It is one of those Perfect June days, when the weather is a bit cooler and breezier (It is technically winter here now). The Humidity is lower (not low, just lower than normal).
I had lunch with Taialofa, my yoga teacher this afternoon. Her company always leaves me a little spooked but more balanced. I recognize that I fostering new friendships is never an easy task but I think that quality female relationships have served me well in the past so there is no harm in fostering the new ones that are healthy and that I can.

Middle Earth

I am going to New Zealand.
July 11th to 25th.
Not only is it time for a break but it will be a fun adventure for Mo and I.
We are sticking to the North Island for this trip.
The plan so far is to fly into Auckland. Spend a day at the thrift shops getting geared up for the cold weather (I want a beanie/hat, gloves, a scarf, two sweaters and if I am lucky some warm boots and maybe a coat. And I want it all REAL CHEEP as I probably won’t be keeping it.) Then take the train to Wellington were we will spend at least 5 days. I want to see the Weta studios and spend some time drinking in pubs. It looks like we have a free place to stay while we are in Wellington, so that will be nice. Then we want to rent a car and spend the rest of the trip driving back to Auckland and stopping on the way to see stuff and stay at hostels.
It is only three weeks away.

Da Loot!

When Jenn returned she brought a bunch of stuff from home for me for my birthday.
It was like Christmas, only without the fat guy with the white beard.
My parents, my Aunt and Soung all sent stuff back for Mia and I. My dog got a bright pink collar and a new AL-LI-GAY-TOR toy. Not to mention that the night before Mikaele brought her a bag of Beggin strips. She is a very spoiled girl.

My Aunt sent 7 pounds of cheese, which I am very excited about. My mother sent lots of chocolate, books and other goodies. Soung sent pretty smelling stuff and fun July 4th party favors. And Jenn, got me a sushi matt. I totally scored the big time loot!
It feels fun, indulgent, and a bit like being spoiled.
So now I just say thank you
Thank you
Thank you

For Posterity Part 2

Last week was not so much fun. First of all, I was sick. I felt crappy most of the week, and am only now starting to get over it. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I went with the group going to the airport to welcome the new kids in country. This is always a fun trip but it put me right over the edge into sick town and I spent all of Wednesday in bed, suffering for it. By Thursday I was feeling a little bit better and was boosted a bit by the return of Jenn and Mikaele. They had both been in the states for family matters and I had missed them terribly. That evening there was a spontaneous gathering at my house for Mikaele. He is a well loved boy. Oh also I got dragged to one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen Thursday. See previous posts. Friday was a half day for me as I was still feeling ill, and I had errands for the FiaFia to run. I had another house full but it was a quiet night as everyone needed plenty of sleep. The lights were out and we were all tucked in by 9pm. It was a little strange.
The next morning at the ass crack of dawn Ema, Jenn and I were up early for the Samoan Island Run. They are crazy and did the Half marathon (13 miles). I was a tad bit more sane (but still crazy) and did the 10K. It rained the whole race. By the time I finished (I did in fact finish!) I was soaked in places I didn’t even know could be wet.
And I was exhausted.
After drying off and changing into warmer clothing, Mikaele took me to breakfast. He was so proud of me. It felt really nice. And after coffee and half a ham and cheese omelet I headed off to Kitano to see Ken…. Ken of Ken’s Island Massage. Let me say that Ken is a man among men. A god, a genius, a miracle worker. I think I may be in love with Ken. Well his hands at least. Ema and Maki gave me a gift certificate for a free massage for my birthday and I had the foresight to schedule it for right after the run. I walked in and said to him “Feet and Lower back, owie!” He took care of them right away. It felt wonderful.
Despite my desire to go home and nap all day after a long run/walk and a lovely massage, I had errands to run. I needed a few things for the Fiafia, so I went and got them. After which I went home for that nap.
The FiaFia got off to a late start. Which I guess is expected. But the new kids seemed to enjoy the acts, and the jokes and there was plenty of food to go around. We had some drama with the after party but it eventually worked it’self out and a great time was had. The new kids seem neat. They are all full of wonder and awe and it is inspiring for us jaded old timers to see that and get re-energized by their enthusiasm.

The Sasa

The guys Slap Dancing

Mikaele and I doing our Hosting thing…

For posterity

I have a lot of catching up to do post wise. A lot has gone on in the past few weeks and I have been sick or just to busy to capture it all. So I want to warn you dear reader that the next few post will likely be boring “I went here, I did this” posts. Please feel free to skip them as they are not likely to be funny or witty or even very charming. But I will try to include as many pictures as is reasonable. Which should be fun for you.

So here goes.

I’ll start with the big birthday, “I just turned 30” stuff. I had a great day last Saturday. I got up late, went to town and did some enjoyable shopping (Which is unusual for me. Normally I hate shopping.) In the afternoon Mo came over and we kafau-ed for a bit before she made me this HUGE Birthday feast. She had been bugging me for months to make up my mind about what I wanted her to cook me, and of course I had no idea of what I wanted. So a couple of days before my birthday when I asked for a meal made entirely of food you can eat with your fingers.




On the menu was: Two kinds of buffalo wings, stuffed mushrooms, Taquidos, quiche, shrimp cocktail and sushi. It was an amazing meal. I had a small group of people (Ema, Mo, Jona and I) over and we all indulged to the point if discomfort. We were supposed to get to the Siva Afi show but we lingered after dinner so long that we missed it. Instead we ended up at Splash (a new bar) for a goodbye party for some COSing volunteers. At said party everyone kept buying me birthday drinks and the DJ even called me up for a birthday dance. I hadn’t intended on celebrating then but it was nice to be surrounded by people I love.
Sunday Jona’s family threw me a surprise birthday To’onaii. I tried to keep up with George in the eating department, and lost. But we had a good time anyway.
By the time Monday rolled around I felt properly celebrated. It was a great birthday. It left me happy and fuzzy but I am glad to be done with it and moving on to whatever is next.

Go, Now! I mean it! Run… Hustle!

Have you seen Kung Fu Hustle?
If you haven’t you should!
Jona dragged me out to see it yesterday.
I was so funny it made me choke.

My illness is lingering and I am headed into a crazy busy weekend.
Hopefully I will have pictures of the madness come Monday.
If I don’t, well then I may be dead.
I’ll let you know how it goes either way {wink}

I am sick

Fever
Body ache
runny nose

I was out yesterday, and I spent most of the day sleeping.
Today I came to work because I got so bored yesterday evening, that even Mia got annoyed with me.
Blah……

Trouble in paradise.

The fabulous GIS project I am working on has hit some bumps… mainly money. Hopefully I will be able to assist in finding funding. I am going to wait and see what happens before I freak out. It may all shake out OK. Things here have a strange way of working out, that I still have never been able to understand. Best just to NOT panic.
And now I say a few words about Mo….
Mo is short for Monique. She is my closest friend in country. We are very different people and yet more we are more alike each other than anyone else here. I believe this is a perfect formula for a hilarious friendship.
{Here is the part were I tell stories}
Yesterday after I got out of a rather traumatic meeting she called me in my office to whine at me about being sick and ask if she could hang out at my house and have me take care of her. She is my friend of course I said yes. She then asked if we could make tacos because she needed “comfort food” to which I responded something like “If by Taco’s you mean sushi, then yes!” In the end we compromised and made both, causing us to both eat to much (I know what you are thinking…. It doesn’t sound much like compromise but trust me it is.) This is a very Dorie-Mo kind of thing to do, and has saved our friendship, at least momentarily on several occasions.
So after our huge dinner of both Sushi and Taco’s she needed something sweet. So I went digging. I usually keep some sort of treat hidden from myself in the house that I can remember if I think about it. It comes in handy since I often have people drop by unannounced. I found a package of Butternut Cookies in the pantry and handed them to her. At which point she discovered that the Ants (the small bugs that technically own and rule my kitchen) had gotten to them first. They had come into the package from one end, so I opened the other end where the cookies were mostly untouched. I took out the first row of six cookies and banged then on the sink. A few random ants vacated the cookies and she happily ate them. I tossed the rest of the bag.
I took a cookie for myself and stupidly left it sitting on my coffee table within Mia’s reach. So my dog stole my cookie. I watched pick it up with her mouth, half in half out. I gave her the “you are a very bad dog voice” and said… “Put The Cookie Down, Mia.” And she promptly dropped it back on the coffee table and went running. I picked up my cookie and took a bite out of the not-in my-dogs-mouth half.
Then we had a good laugh at ourselves.
This is probably disgusting to those of you reading at home. Ants, dogs, germs, OH MY! But for those of you PCV’s or RPCV’s who are reading this I hope you are laughing along with us. You probably understand a little more. When there are bigger; meaner and uglier things (like dengue fever, or just good old fashioned Giardia) than an ant or dog breath you eat the cookie anyway.

This is not so bad...

My friend Karen sent me an e-mail saying that so far 30 has been great for her. So far it has been pretty good for me as well. Tho I am not very far into it.
It was a lovely weekend full of wonderful things and people.
Maybe at some point I will post details. Maybe I won’t tho. Some things are more special when kept to yourself.
I guess the important part is that I have the following things going for me right now and I am very happy:
Work that is meaningful and fulfilling
A wonderful family
Truly amazing friends
A beautiful and comfortable home on a tropic paradise island

So I am looking forward to the next 10 years.

The two cappuccino lunch. (or a rant about turning 30)

It is the beginning of the month. Which generally means that we PCV’s are usually feeling a bit freer with our meager allowances. So today Mo and I partook in one of my favorite splurges. The Two Cappuccino Lunch. It’s like the two martini lunch only caffeinated instead of alcoholic.
We went to the Sydney Side Cafe, and not only did I lift my ban on caffeine but I went so far as to indulge in not one but two cups.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that tomorrow I become (in theory anyway) a more mature woman. Maybe I feel like I need to get in just a few more indulgent and irresponsible choices, while I feel I still have the excuse “I was young”. Maybe this is all just a wild rationalization for paying way to much for coffee I probably should have avoided in the first place.
C’est la vie. It was nice anyway.

Hot like Wasabi

Having two days off in the middle of the week is a strange phenomenon. It is like a weekend but not really. My friend Nella referred to it as our “fake weekend”. But Fake or not it was a very nice break. I didn’t do much with my time off. I saw some of the Independence day celebration performances and some of the boat races. But Wednesday was an unusually warm day, so I went home early and read a trashy novel and hung out with friends. Thursday I played with my dog, and some of the children on my compound. Oh and I took a few nice naps.

Wow… I just used the words “nice naps”. I have been wanting to slip into 30 with grace and dignity. Maybe I have taken that too far.

In other news, I can’t stop making Sushi. I made (and ate) a ton of it during the break. I ran out of Nori and brown rice. Good thing I still had plenty of fish. Hopefully I can replenish the supplies this afternoon and return to Sushi making this weekend. I have a sneeking suspicion that I am becoming addicted to wasabi.