Benj's Blog

Ava ceremony

2009-10-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

the samoan at the back is the orator who instructs me on who to give the ava to.

Rosie is the "taupo" or ceremonial virgin who prepares the ava. the guys on the side of her are protecting her and the ava.
I was the "tautu" or ava (kava) runner for group 82's welcome ceremony. Basically i fill up the cup and distribute the ava out to the ceremony's participants. this is done according to the orator's calling out of names. i was just glad i didn't drop the cup. thanks to other volunteers for the pics.

Tsunami

2009-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

This was her home. see the foundations in the background.

this is FaoFao beach fales where Peace Corps used to have conferences. The oceanside bar is completely gone. You would never know anything was there.

missing road by shane's house.

look how high the water rose. those little yellow things are people searching for bodies. they are about 100-150 yards from the ocean.

Shane's family's house across the street.

Shane's house used to be to the left of this foundation. The land isnt even there anymore.

Just a few pictures I took on Saturday. It's unreal the destruction that these waves caused.

Farewell to Neiafu

2009-08-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Those "ulas" got really heavy. I had to take them off before i danced.

The school had a farewell for me last week where they brought gifts and sang songs for me. The women's committee in the village had one as well but i didnt take my camera to it. Saying goodbye for the most part was a bit awkward but there were some very heartfelt moments as well. But its not really goodbye b.c ill be visiting throughout the next year.

Father's Day at the Mormon Church

2009-08-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

My farewell dance. Longest 4 minutes of my life.

Pati and Vineta (host parents) (in black and red) dancing a couples dance. thats our dog Rover on the far right. always where he isnt supposed to be. he attends school and church as well.

On Saturday before (Samoan) Father's day they a dinner and talent show at the Mormon Church. Most families just do a dance to a Samoan or Western pop song. Thanks to Slumdog Millionaire and the Pussycat Dolls, Indian dance moves are getting popular.

Softball in Neiafu

2009-08-22T12:26:00.001-07:00

there are some future hall of famers in that bunch.

"for the hundredth time, stand beside the plate not on it!"

"look i dont want any crying out there ok? alright, lets go over signals."

see if you can spot the one with the glove on the wrong hand.

this was back a few months ago when another volunteer came by with some college softball players and we had a clinic in my village. the game grew exponentially as the day went on.

pics

2009-07-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

my repertoire... (for spear fishing)

my new spear. a fraction of the price and twice the distance as the three-prong pole spear. works like a sling-shot. still not easy to hunt with though. i feel like an underwater rambo with this thing.

this is the can crusher that was part of the recycling program. its bad ass if i may say so. not as easy to build as u may think. especially in a resource scarce area.

here is a catholic church in falealupo-tai that was destroyed by the hurricanes in the early 90s. very interesting inside, but my camera batteries died. theres also an open crypt full of human skulls and bones across the street because lots of graves were washed out and human bones washed up everywhere so they threw them all in this one place.

4th of july softball

2009-07-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

plain and simple we kicked navy's ass...

waiting an eternity for the ball to get there...

nice little 4th of july at the rl stevenson museum. the us navy is here doing medical clinics and we had a softball game, cookout, and dancing.

Dr. Niko and the diabetes workshop

2009-06-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

the troopers. nick did all of the diabetes testing, and spencer did most all of the blood pressure checking. couldnt have asked for more diligent workers. i weighed people, filled out their cards, and led them to the educational posters. Nick also preferred me to break the bad news to some of the patients who tested high on blood pressure or sugar.

the kids are playing on the scale in the background. Nick and I went the extra mile a the Mormon church.

this is me giving some diet tips to some Neiafu-Tai women. education is the key right?

this was actually back in april but i dont think i ever posted it. nick came with all his testing equipment and spencer came from Faleolupo village next door to help out with the testing. overall we tested about 150 people ages 20 to early 80s. the results were staggering, but i will not post them here.

Delilah's wedding

2009-06-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ever heard the Samoan version of the "Three Little Pigs?"

Presenting fine mats, cows and pigs at the Mormon church in Neiafu. Weird thing is most of the stuff was given to pastors and leaders of both villages instead of the two wedding families.

Mr. and Mrs. To'o. Yes those are "ulas" with money. American money actually. Somebody wanted to show off...

The wedding party in front of the Mormon Temple in Apia. The village ceremony was held the next day back in Neiafu.

My host sister got married last week to a young man from a few villages over. A wedding in Samoa turns out to be an affair for the whole village, not just the families involved. For me it was a chance to witness "fa'alavelave" at its greatest. (meaning any big deal or something out of the ordinary i.e. wedding, funeral, car accident, emergency) I can't count the number of cows and pigs that were slaughtered, and boy to i have some good video footage to show u guys when i get back home. To'o now lives with us in Neiafu.

Neiafu Recycles!

2009-06-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

aside from its obvious use, this is definately a trophy piece. no other village on the island has a bin like this.

it says. "Make/keep Neiafu beautiful." "empty cans" "empty bottles" "Other kinds of rubbish are forbidden."

I can hardly believe it myself. With some leftover fence material we were able to weld together this recycling bin here. Our goal is to stop throwing tin cans and plastic bottles behind our houses or near the sea. To kick things off we are having all the grade levels at the primary school compete to bring in the most recyclables. I have promised an ice cream party for the class who brings in the most by the conclusion of the competition. I have no idea how this is going to turn out. Will the kids lose interest once ice cream is no longer at stake? Will the collection agency honor their verbal agreement to pick up the recyclables? Will one large box of ice cream be enough? These answers and more next time. It is a considerable success that we have even gotten this far.

compost toilet hunt

2009-05-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

this was what i was searching for... not exactly what i had in mind. it was beneficial to see the design though.

on the boat ride over, this palagi baby would just lock up with this samoan baby for minutes at a time. just hugging. it was one of the cutest things ive ever seen.

well with nothing much going on since the school fence was finished i finally took the time to travel to manono island to check out a compost toilet that was built there sometime in this young century. my contact number was not working, so i just decided to wing it and find someone on the island to point me in the right direction. through a bit of jungle we come to a clearing where a lady tells me an old school used to be but it burnt down a few years ago. the compost toilet i was supposed to research reamains standing, but obviously not in working order. i wonder how this will help our compost toilet proposal sent in to the EU.

pics

2009-05-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

the Neiafu Mormon Church

all the mothers being honores with "ulas" (candy necklaces) on mothers day at the mormon church.

women (mostly mothers) doing their church plays on mothers day at the methodist church.

finishing up an amazing mother's day lunch with some ice cream. a real treat for our side of the island.

a Samoan standing fan. Im downloading Metallica's latest album to my ipod. yes im on a small island at the end of the earth.

me and koko, one of the few kids in the village whos not afraid of me. actually sometimes she wont leave me alone. isnt she adorable!

pics

2009-04-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

last sunset of the world everyday.

my host sister teaching class. these kids would be 5th graders in the states.

kid fishing for octopus and invertebrates.

Google Earth - Neiafu, Savaii

2009-03-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

thought this would be a good way to give u guys a better idea of where things are that i talk about in this blog. hopefully u can read the labels or blow up the picture. ok it would first be a good idea to be familiar with neaifu on a map of samoa. then you can look at this detail of neiafu. the scale in the bottom left is 2,985 ft. ive labeled the bathing pools where half of the village goes to bathe and do laundry. out past the waves there is where we do our spear fishing. i have been surfing lately right out in front of the bathing pools where the channel makes a bit of a wave. on the inner reef right in front of my house is where i take the village kids surfing. people also go down to vaoto beach for fishing. vaoto is a secluded beach that u actually have to scale down a cliff to get to, but it is well worth the dangerous climb. nobody lives there, only a few people even go there. it is the epitome of a private, isolated tropical beach. i go down there sometimes and pretend im tom hanks from castaway for a few hours. they say people used to live there long ago, but nobody has lived down there for a very long time. my g/f's house is across from the primary school where we just built the fence. all the churches are labeled. i want to say its about a mile and a half between my family's neiafu-tai house (my house) and their neiafu-uta house. from my house to the bus stop is all uphill. one hell of a hill. all of the land to the north and west out of view of this picture is still neiafu, but it wouldnt fit in view and theres no real landmarks that way. the road through neiafu tai does connect to another road which takes you down to tufutafoe village.

pictures

2009-03-27T15:26:00.001-07:00

nothing much going on since i got back from fiji. my host family is building a house for some relatives in new zealand that are coming back to stay sometime this year. here's some pics of building a house in Samoa. ill upload more when finished.

thats where the concrete is made. the sand is from the beach in neiafu-tai, and the water is from the (not-so)freshwater springs in tai as well. the cinderblocks are made in my family's garage in neiafu-uta using the neiafu sand and tank water. clearing down trees. we did have a chainsaw, but much if this type of work is done with hacking with machetes as well.

all the stones and rocks are brought from the surrounding woods by hand. usually lots of untitled men from the village come in an afternoon and pile up a bunch of rocks. for some laborers their whole job all week was to collect rocks to fill in the foundation

this will be an open-air front room where meetings can be held, but really this is where samoans choose to spend most of their time. eating,weaving, hanging out, even sleeping is usually done in an open room/house like this. this type of room can be totally detatched from the rest of the house. the back will be for bedrooms and maybe a bathroom and kitchen (the later two often detached from the house as well.) but bedrooms are mainly for storing belongings and changing clothes, not really for sleeping or sitting around in.

Fiji

2009-03-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

a fijian on a horse

a nice hostel we stayed at for about $20 american. free internet, kayaks, breakfast, horseboarding, etc. great place to stay.

yes that is me wakeboarding behind a horse. how about that for ecotourism!

hanging out with some volunteers from fiji. they drink together by placing drinks on the lazy susan and spinning it around the table.

just got back from a week in Fiji. awesome time. great to get out of Samoa for a little while. the landscape is very different. i think samoa beats them there. but fiji has a much nicer city and better options for backpackers and international travelers. great indian food.

random pics

2009-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

some volleyball at the Neiafu-uta Methodist church. the turn-off in the background takes you down to my house. the little hut is where we wait for the bus.

some kids jumping rope in front of the house. they are standing on the cement strip used for pitching the cricket ball.

this is the wharf at salelologa where the boat takes us to upolu island. im standing at the peace corps office.

school fence part 2

2009-02-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

Very close to the finished product. just some more pipe to go between the poles at the bottom and we will be done. Hopefully next we will plant some fruit trees on the school compound for the kids to eat for lunches. we'll see..... Oh yeah, these pics are with my new camera, so hopefully it wont take me two months to put up a new blog.

Neiafu Primary School Fence

2009-01-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

work around this gate took longer than expected and ate up more material than we budgeted for. but im sure it will look nice.
except for a few days when all the manpower in the village came out to cement poles and build up the stone fence, all the work has been done by a few dependable workers that u see in these pics. it hasnt been easy at times.
its actually a nice view when u are coming down the road and see the gate. the tree on the right there helps hide a few out-of-level posts.
im carrying the brick over to another area because we only have one grinder, and one electrical outlet, one hammer, one level, one hacksaw, one trawel, one measuring tape, and some days only one shovel. i bet you can guess how convenient that is.
this little gate and the steps we built for it kicked my ass. plain and simple.

i know it's been a while. sorry. my camera is broken so i dont really have any new pics of anything and im not really one to blog w/o pictures. but my buddy spencer from group 80 came down to help us with the fence last week and he took some pics. looks like we hit the foreign aid jackpot again and got a $32k (about $11.5k US) dollar grant from Australia to build a primary school fence. this project hit the ground even before our tank project was finished, so ive had no problem, or time for that matter, in finding another project to do. the purpose of this fence is to keep pigs, dogs, and cows off school property to provide a safer (animal shit-free) school ground. also to help beautification or agricultural projects now that animals wont be there to eat everything u plant. hopefully with the help of some villagers i will start planting fruit trees there in a few months. and with any luck and extra material, i will get enough people on board to build a recycling bin. (highly doubtful)

Deep Sea Fishing!

2008-11-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

a little slice of the good life. doesnt get much fresher than that.

check out that bad boy. 8 or 9 feet tip to tip. a sailfish caught off the southern coast of upolu. not sure about the weight. i guess this ends my fishing streak of bad luck, although charter fishing isnt really fishing. its more like just riding in a boat for a couple hours while the 1st mate sets the lines. you do have the option of reeling it in though.

Group 81 Fiafia

2008-11-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

the samoan "taupou" (ceremonial virgin)

quite possibly the last "man dance." the next group doesnt come till next october.

This was held right after midservice last month. Sorry I've been busy...

midservice

2008-10-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

this pig and dog (seeming to be the only of each kind on the island) were best friends. the pig also tried to get a little too friendly with most of us. if they only knew how different life was on the mainland.

Beach Fales...

Pretty small group huh? Niko was a no show. I left right after this picture.

Land!!!!

this was our middle of service break where we got to go stay at some beach fales on a tiny island off the eastern coast of upolu called namu'a. i only spent one night there b.c i had to go back to the village to do some filming for our project, but everybody said it was fun.

White Sunday

2008-10-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is basically xmas in samoa. this is the one day of the year where kids are given gifts (new church clothes) and treated special (first to eat, and maybe ice cream for desert!) they also run the show at church doing plays and songs and dances. samoans always look sharp on sundays, and this particular day even moreso. here are some shots...

my girl, her sis, and little cousin who i really want to adopt. haha. she loves to talk to me but is terrified to get near me. like most kids.

the girls are in costume. they normally dress way better than that.

the cutest kids in the world!

at least one of us is good looking. my sweetheart.

my girl's sister, brother and baby cousin. how cute is that baby!

some play about a king who had a dream and something happened. im fluent in samoan, but not bible samoan. kinda like my english.

octopus hunting

2008-10-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

one day while not catching fish with my fishing pole, i decided to go fishing for octopi with my neighbor. its actually quite interesting. just swim/wade around in the shallow reef and look down holes to see if anyone is home. it they are, fire at will. do ur best to spear it and pull it out of the hole by any means necessary. (some dont go all that willingly) once out, slam it on top of the water a few times to kill it good, and then loop it on ur belt and go looking for the next hole. my neighbor on the right is pretty good. im not that good. octopus taste really good.

Miss Samoa

2008-09-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Another September, another Miss Samoa. Here are a few shots of this year's contestants. All in all there about 4 contestants that live in Samoa, and 3 abroad (NZ, Australia, and USA). Miss NZ is in red, Miss Aus. sitting down in lite purple. The other two pics are of local contestants. You gotta love the girl in the rugby ball. Miss USA is very pretty and looks very cool, but i didnt get a good pic of her b.c she was always movin and throwing candy (hence the coolness).

Samoa Boat Race

2008-09-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

the fautasi (boat) race was held yesterday in apia. the green boat won. sorry there arent better pics of actually racing.

Miss Samoa

2008-08-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah so I got to meet Miss Samoa a few weeks ago, and I ran to get my camera and brought it back to have my picture taken with her and the f-in batteries were dead. So no picture of me and her, but I thought I would let all of you know anyways. She kissed me on the cheek too! I almost fainted. Her father's family is from my village, and she was back visiting relatives. She's actually my girlfriend's 2nd cousin.

Condi Condi

2008-08-24T23:57:00.001-07:00

Almost forgot to post. Condi Rice paid us a visit last month. It was short and sweet. Apparently she was in town to dissuade Samoa from allowing the Chinese to put a satellite here or something like that. She stopped ever so briefly to take a picture with us and say a few words. She actually looks very fit in person, very skinny. She has a very stiff walk though. Maybe it was from all the flying.

Career Day

2008-08-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

A career day was had in Apia for highschool students on from both islands last week. Schools, Businesses and Gov't agencies all came and set up booths. Overall I think it was a huge success. For some kids, this was the first time they have gotten to see what is actually out there in the world. Big ups to the Peace Corps volunteers who put the whole thing on. Myself and other volunteers were there to help make things run smoothly. (i.e. fetch water bottles, set up tables, and guard the snack table from hungry students.) Maybe I should have toured the booths and found a career for myself as well.

Training

2008-07-24T17:56:00.001-07:00

Since my group has hit its year mark, halfway mark, and soon to be year in the village mark, I thought I would take you back to what we were doing this time a year ago. Last summer, we spent our time between Apia and the training village in Manunu, Upolu. Here's some pics of that. Lot's of reminiscing as i write this blog. For most of us, our fondest memories are of our time spent together in this village. We were a group, a team, now we are scattered around the two islands and it seems like every month another one of us is leaving.

Me, Jacob, and some of the guys playing homerun derby. This event was not about culture sharing, or teaching new sports to kids. It was about young American men and their need to hit a ball as hard and far as they can. (I won!)

With the financial help of a wealthy American family sailing through the Pacific, we were able to repaint and put new flooring in the Manunu Primary School. It was a festive day of painting and games. It's amazing what how good we look when other people give us money.

An amazing waterfall near Manunu. We spent lots of our free time here. Usually with a host of Samoans. good times...

This is before our big end of training party (fiafia). We performed several dances and a skit, but the real treat was watching the village perform their dances for us. There are only 9 of us left from this group of 16.

The Peace Corps version of "You Got Served." With our fearless leader Niko leading the way, we dueled with a local primary school in an all out dance battle. They were tough, but no match for the "Hokie Pokie" or was it the Chicken Dance?

I'm a father!

2008-07-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

...Godfather that is. This is my sister, Loreta, from our training village in Manunu and her new baby boy Peni, named in honor of me. (Peni is my Samoan name.) Although it is common for Samoans to name newborns after a visitor that has spent some time with them, I am flattered and incredibly honored nonetheless. A child in this world carries my namesake. The first time i saw Peni, he smiled at me. I think I'll have a connection with this kid. After all, it seems only fitting that I be the godfather considering I could hear him being conceived during training last June. So much for privacy in Samoa. haha...

Samoan Funeral

2008-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

final resting site of the departed. yes this common to bury your dead in your front yard. some say this is so ur dead will keep away evil spirits. others say it makes for settling land disputes in the future. this grave will have a few more layers and decorations added to it once finished. (nice water tank!)

A high talking cheif delivers a speech to the family. just out of view to the left is a chief and group of the family who thanks the high chief and delivers his own speech.

matai doing the ceremonial walk to the gravesite.

i partially witnessed my first samoan funeral last week. only partially because it turns out i was at the start of a case of dengue fever, and my first because ive done my best to avoid previous ones. funerals in samoa are almost like family reunions at the same time. they usually involve family coming home from australia, nz, and american samoa. the service itself can be anywhere from a few days after the death to about 2 weeks later. lots of gift are donated to the greiving family usually in the form of fine mats, cows, pigs, money, and boxes of canned fish. the tendancy is to give more than you can afford or should, and then things are redistributed back to contributing families at the end. a concept we americans will never understand. they last at least one whole day.

Group 80 Welcoming Party!

2008-06-23T21:41:00.001-07:00

No those are not mighty Samoan warriors, they are me and my fellow peace corps gents showing off what we've learned in the past year. the new group just arrived june 4th and we had a welcoming party with men and women's samoan dance. new volunteers start to get an idea what life is like here, and of course meet the veterans (us). current volunteers (we) look at it as a chance to get drunk and eat great food. the one where we are in a line is called the slap dance, we basically just jump around and hit ourselves, and each other. the other is the war dance of the national rugby team (Manu Samoa) that they do before every match. i think after that night we owe a few apologies to Samoa. but it was fun!

More Fire Dancing

2008-06-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics to go along with the video on Laura's blog. It's f-in awesome.

Fire Dancing

2008-06-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

everybody! click on "Laura's Blog" (link to the right under "other blogs") and watch some video footage of the samoan siva afi. words cant describe how cool it is. definately something you have to see in person at least once in your life.

random pics

2008-06-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

shipwrecked. two of them men decided against their better judgement to go out the other night in head high waves. they didnt make it out. this boat had the back cover ripped off and the outrigger badly damaged. as always though, the men were ok.

samoan head massage "fofo." the headache reliever of choice. 60% of the time, it works everytime.

one of the proudest days of my life. seriously. 16 coconuts, carried barefoot down a slippery, rocky hillside about a half-mile long. i was later told that that was a girls load. the young men in the family do this everyday, sometimes twice a day. ive seen guys carrying 35-40 coconuts before.

tearing apart a coconut with his bear hands! u can either shuck them open with a stick or mash them on the rocks until the husk loosens up, like this guy did.

a welcome sign into the village for special occaisons. sooner or later it is taken back down by the villagers or a nice storm. whichever comes first. there was no welcome sign for when i came.

this is the preschool graduation last year. kids in white are moving on to the primary school. notice the candy necklaces, a big thing for special occaisons.

samoan guy grating coconuts. "valu popo" this is a task done by either gender of most any age. the flakes will then be squeezed into coconut cream or fed, as is, the the chickens.

comments

2008-06-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

by all means, send me comments on here. i love to hear from people. one thing though... if u are from back home let me know who u are in the comment. i dont really have any way of figuring it out, and the username doesnt always give it away. and if u want me to reply, its probably best to shoot me an email. but keep em coming. thanks...

the committee

2008-06-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

this is my peace corps committee and the carpenter for the tank project, and a few other people helping to build this particular tank. these are some Neiafu "matai" (samoan chiefs) that i work with on a regular basis to do projects in their village. those tarps go up when it starts raining, which we had to deal a lot with in the past two weeks, but we still managed to crank out 15 tanks in 18 working days. (thats a good pace)

tanks part 2

2008-06-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

this is making the concrete, and a view of the finished product. we are done with the first 15 tanks and i dont think ive ever been in better shape. i dont think ive ever come this close to 6 pack abs and high blood pressure at the same time.

Neiafu Water Tank Project

2008-05-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

this is my major peace corps project that i was lucky enough to get funding for through the UNDP (United Nations). We are building 50 ferro-cement water tanks at the edges of villagers houses to catch the rain water rolling off of the roof. for about 10 families, this will be their first water tank and will greatly improve their standard of living. the other 40 will go to families with very old/leaking tanks, or families in need of another tank due to family size. again, there is no running water system or rivers in my section of the island and villagers are 100% depenedent on water tanks like these. hopefully these pics, give you an idea of how its done. its all concrete and and wire. the body and roof are made using sheet metal forms, 2x4's, angle cut 2x6's and samoan tree branches. and yes i am not just taking pictures, im busting my butt too! most of the people you see in these pictures are village matai (chiefs) in my peace corps committee that i have been working with on this project and will continue to work with on other projects next year. the grant was for $86K samoan (about $35k US). this covers the $1600 (samoan) materials cost per tank. the family must pay $200 (samaoan) for carpenter's fees as well as feed the workers (us) for the 3 meals that we will be working at their house. i have been eating like a king during this project. more to come on the water tanks...

laundry day! bathing day!

2008-05-16T13:18:00.001-07:00

from may to november, the water hole at neiafu-tai is a pretty popular spot. (acutally its pretty popular year round, but esp. during the dry season.) believe it or not we have an incredibly dry month of april and may, and for some families, the water in the water tank is strictly for drinking from here until rainy season. this means that everyone and their mother is at the bathing hole doing laundry, bathing, or just enjoying some fun in the sun! (not really) these pools are a mixture of sea water and natural spring water. the small one is much better for bathing, but as you can see, it gets compromised rather quickly with detergent. here are some pics of some women doing their laundry at the water. my beautiful girlfriend, about to do her laundry, and also my g/f and her little brother playing with other kids in the pool. the view is unbeatable here. sometimes i go here just to sit and watch the ocean from the rocks. sunsets are amazing. this also gives you a front row seat to watch the fisherman going out to sea.

meet the fam

2008-05-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

this is my samoan host family. from left to right it is my brother esela, mother vineta, father pati (robert), sister delilah, brother feleki (fred), my little brother lope(robert), sister gasetoto, and little bro marvin. marvin is actually a grandson. his mother lives in new zealand but being the first born, he was given to the grandmother (vineta) to raise. not sure how common that is, but its certainly not uncommon either. this pic was taken at the house in neiafu-uta where pati, esela, delilah, and mormon missionaries live. i mainly live with vineta and my little brothers at their other house in neiafu-tai. gasetoto is a teacher in Apia, and feleki goes to Nat'l University of Samoa in Apia. Delilah is an 8th grade teacher at the Neiafu Primary School where marvin and lope go to school, also where i try to help out. not really sure if im helping though. vineta and pati run their two stores at their two houses.

coconuts!

2008-05-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

im gonna be very sad the day i find myself living in a place where i can't send a kid up a tree to fetch me some coconuts. actually drinking the young coconut (in pic) is not as popular as you may think. they usually wait until they mature and fall to the ground where they are then used as pig food, snacks, and all of your coconut cream sauces come from the mature nuts. but every once in a while ill get a kid to drop down a bunch and then we have a big coconut smashing/drinking party. its great. yes this kid is about 50 feet up in the air and yes i climbed a coconut tree and yes i got the nuts and yes i scraped and chafed just about my entire body in the process. no i will not climb a tree that high. this is one of those tall trees in the background of the cricket picture below.

kirikiti!

2008-05-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

this is samoan cricket,

the thing about samoa is that they get a lot of their palagi (white people) culture from new zealand and austrailia, so even lots of the "adopted from europeans" samoan things are still new to us americans. while it makes a great picture, samoan cricket is painfully slow, and i cant seem to sit through a match or play one. the kids version is a bit more similar to baseball and much more fun. that i like to play. mainly because im better than them.

bed bugs

2008-05-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

now i know why they say sleep tight, dont let the bed bugs bite. something horrible was infested in my bed for a few months and it culminated in a week of pure itching torture. while better now, im rarely without at least one bite somewhere between my knees and ribs. seems to be something i will just have to deal with while im here.

siva!

2008-05-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

the samoan siva (dance) is one of the most graceful, beautiful things you will ever see. i on the other hand and not. thats me showing them how we do it in the country. this was at a fundraiser the women's committee had to raise money. theres no audience. they are mainly just dancing for themselves. each woman is required to donate a certain amount. where that money goes? i have no idea.

where i live

2008-05-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

well this is my house. nestled into the beautiful village of Neiafu, Savaii in Western Samoa. i have to be honest, it does have the million dollar view. lord knows what a piece of land like this would go for in the states. unlike hawaiians, samoans own all of their own land, although there is a bill in parliament right now that might change that. the other view is from my house looking out towards the ocean, and the third is from the village bathing pool looking back toward the beach and village. it sure is nice to have this view everyday. maybe if i do a good enough job here, they will give me a piece of land to settle down on. a thought that has seriously crossed my mind a time or two. those are breadfruit trees in the yard in front of my house. you either have taro, boiled green bananas, or breadfruit with every meal. or sometimes they are a meal in itself. this tree is what the hms bounty was after to bring back to the carribean to feed slaves.

baseball

2008-05-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

sorry to all those good baseball players out there that never got to play on a national team. i did! my childhood dreams came true in november when i suited of for the samoan national team and participated in international competition vs. american samoa. i was a bit rusty but i played really well. 1 for 5, lots of hard hit balls though, a few rboe, and played a solid shortstop.

too bad im much stronger and in much better shape now than in highschool. this is the samoan national team. baseball is brand new here in samoa, and we are trying to get it off the ground. the govt isnt helping much at all though, and i cant put too much time into it b.c im on the rural island of savaii. hopefully i will be able to help them and work with them more during the dry season which is now. IF YOU WANT TO DONATE ANY EQUIPMENT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! we need anything and everything.

shark!

2008-05-03T16:00:00.001-07:00

this was a 4 and a half footer they caught a few months ago. all u need is some fishing line, pig guts, and a big ass spear (trident style). they stand on the rocks above the shore and attract the sharks with the bait, once they get close enough, spear it like a spartan. its not too easy though. u might starve if u stick to only this method of fishing. it sure makes me feel safe knowing that im swimming with fish like this everyday. thats a watertank in the background there. u see the pipe running off the roof into the tank and the spigot at the bottom. no need to filter. its from the heavens.

"The Breeze"

2008-05-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

this is my prized possession of my first 1/3rd of service in neiafu. i bought the boat for $300 samoan tala, and my neighbor threw in a fine mat, weaved by his wife from pandanus leaves (valued at around $200 tala). one pic is of his wife and a friend weaving a mat similar to the one used in my purchase. nearly every women in the village weaves these, and they are can be used for anything from paying village fines, wedding gifts, funeral offerings, and of course to buy things like boats, virtually anything . sharing the boat has worked out fine, since i can use it whenever i want (daytime) and my neighbor can use it whenever he wants (nighttime.) the paint job is of my own doing. i happen to think it looks damn good. sadly however "the breeze" no longer exists. at the rate at which it gets repaired (i've wrecked it twice) and repainted, it was too tough to keep the paint job up, so just a plain coat of red covers the body now. not to mention the superstitions of having a boat in samoa with an american flag paint job. not that i beleive in superstitions, but the samoan seas can be tough enough, so i sure dont need any extra karma against me.

time to grow

2008-05-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

taking almost as long as this blog to come about is my vegetable garden. alas we have cleared some land and have planted some seeds. chinese cabbage (bok choy), watermelon, beans, and some samoan tree/plant (maybe called a drumstick tree) have been planted directly in the garden while basil and green peppers are first being planted in seed boxes inside. all have sprouted except for the unidentified samoan tree, and the peppers. the weeds and rocks are a nightmare. the tree there on the left of the picture is a banana tree which there are tons of in samoa. the other elephant ear-looking plant is the taro. a root crop (similar but much better tasting and more nutritious than a potato) which is the staple of samoa and all other pacific islands. perhaps this is why the samoans grow so strong. it is nicknamed the samoan steriods (neither are part of our veggie garden) the cash crop of the garden (the cabbage) is under the dreid coconut leaves in the background. this is a project undertaken with my host father at his house in neiafu-uta, a good mile and a half uphill from me, so i will be relying on him to do most of the watering and transplanting, since i am not there at the only times of the day that he will work in the garden. (crack of dawn and dusk).

track n field

2008-05-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

we had a track n field day in the village a few weeks ago. the neiafu team did realy well. possibly b.c we hosted the competition and are one of the few villages who's kids run and play on sand everyday. rumor has it that our boys 4x1 relay has the best time on savaii right now. finals are in apia in a few weeks. apia better look out. the girl on the left with the baton is our best runner. she will be representing us in apia in a few events.

just another night's work

2008-05-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

these are the fishermen in my village heading out for another night of fishing. they go out at sundown and come home about an hour or so after sunrise. someday i will do that too, just as soon as i get over the fact that i will be in a tiny little canoe in a huge ocean and in the dark for 12 of the 13 hours im out there. oh yeah, trying to catch fish that hopefully are big, but not big enough to eat me. and actually thats the easy part. getting out past the breakers (i.e. wave on the left of pic) and coming back inside in the mornings is actually the hard part. this picture was on a very calm day. normally i am out there in the evenings helping the men get out past the waves and helping save them and the boat when they dont make it. but its ok, they make it about 60% of the time. the boats are in about 2 feet of water now, but past the waves, it deepens out to 10,20,50, and so on. in the mornings they sell their catch, or give it away in the form of payment for a favor done in the past, or to be done in the future.

volleyball

2008-05-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

we just had a volleyball tourny in the village yesterday. it still amazes me how hard these guys can spike the ball. its like nothing ive ever seen in the states. but then again i havent seen too much men's volleyball in the states. this is at the state of the art mormon church just built last year. thats my g/f's brother leaping high in the air. the neiafu team is on the far side. we lost in the finals to a nearby village. they seem to take defeat and poor refereeing a lot better than americans do.

Finally!

2008-05-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry it only took me 11 months into service to set up my blog. I'll try to give you lots of current stuff as well as some old stuff too. Please have patience. This is my first time. Here goes...