Friday Zack and JJ picked AJ and me up from our house at eight and drove us to the ferry to head to Aunu’u, the closest AS island to Tutuila. It doesn’t have any infrastructure on it but a small community of several hundred residents. Once there, we hiked around the island for a few hours in the boiling heat, stopping at the awe-inspiring cliffs, the “landfill”, and the lake. We then drove over to the NOAA Weather Observatory, which is extraordinarily remote and up an extremely steep road. Thank goodness Zack first turned down the wrong unpaved road, went up several hundred meters, then decided it was a good idea to back down it…not my ideal way to die.

            The NOAA station consists of a medium sized, extremely well air conditioned building with measuring devices on its roof and the most well-maintained lawn I have ever seen (apparently managed by some guy with a machete and a weed whacker…the guy hangs out of trees up the side of the mountain trimming vegetation). The only permanent worker up there is Greg, born and raised in Hawaii, who has lived on several of the Marshall islands (where his wife is from), several of which his children are princes of. He spent the years before coming to AS on the very same island my dad spent his four years of high school on! Except apparently now there are under a thousand people living on it…Anyway, Greg apparently fell into this job and really doesn’t have a strong scientific background, and he readily admits this and made it clear that taking the measurements, collecting the air, and fixing the machine has to be taught to you no matter what your background is. There is equipment worth tens of millions of dollars up there since the air is used as the baseline for the cleanest air in the world-it’s the furthest inhabited location from any “major” city. Universities like Princeton and Scripps College have equipment up there they’ll send people to check out every few years, but they consistently get measurements sent back to them. Greg’s most important jobs are to monitor the air quality and also to send air samples back to the states to ensure that his machines are accurately functioning. We also hiked down this very steep several hundred food flight of stairs down to a cliff pique also used as a measurement site. The views from this place are seriously unreal.

            Greg is definitely a character, with a full knee to mid stomach tap tap tattoo, and he talked to us about how the Coast Guard Lieutenant, our friend Steve, wants to jump off an 80 foot cliff into the water before he leaves. He says he just needs to make sure the water is deep enough. Instead we hiked down to very low cliffs and dove into the water, and he taught us how to catch the wave back to the cliff, grab onto the coral and climb out. It was awesome. Then he went and jumped in to test the depth for Steve’s jump. He determined that it was better to jump from a little lower…

            Then we stopped at Tisa’s for some drinks and met some Danish guys who were sailing around the world on this pirate looking ship with a four man total crew. They pay $20 a day plus food expenses and apparently can come on and leave when they wish. One of the guys had been on the ship for a year and a half, since it started in Denmark…

            That night we hung out at the First Friday market then went to Sadie’s where I met this guy who had some cool tattoos. Turns out he taught himself how to tattoo while incarcerated and bored, fashioning a tattoo gun out of a spoon, a toy car motor, sewing needles, and printer ink. Not a clue how he didn’t get terribly infected, but the tattoos turned out great. Now that’s talent. Apparently he went to jail when he was 18 for second degree murder because he knew what happened in a murder but was told by the person who did it that his family would be taken care of if he didn’t spill what he knew. So he kept his mouth shut, and they took care of his family. He now says that it was really stupid since he wasted his youth in jail, but apparently they cut his sentence to 7.5 years, and the dude left the island as soon as he got out of jail, and this guy’s family owns arguably the most popular restaurant on the island.

            On Saturday we went on this awesome hike up Mount Alava, where a good chunk of it was ropes and ladders, with the most spectacular views. We had a huge hiking crew and were exhausted. That night we went to a bbq and passed out early. Then Sunday morning we went to church with the Samoan family we had dinner with last weekend. They go to Catholic church, and we got there an hour early all decked out in our Samoan attire. Chuck (a grad intern) had picked us up and taken us there. He had gone to the supermarket and asked what to bring for the family for a Sunday feast, and they had said a chicken. So then they got out a 22 pound box of chicken legs and sent him off…Anyway, the mass was a great experience. There were about 300 people in the church, and the choir was the absolute highlight. The people were very warm and vibrant, and the entire (over two hour) service was in Samoan…they also welcomed us Palagis there with an announcement from the pastor, with where each of us were from…and at the end of it I received communion for the first time…definitely not supposed to do that, and I definitely haven’t converted, but there was no way to avoid it. They had all of these beautiful flowers throughout the service, and then at the end they came around and placed leis on a few people, and Chuck and I were two of them!

            After church we hung out at Leilua’s house until the big afternoon feast, where we were instructed to relax, and they waited on us hand and food, while giving us morsels to sample. They specially made a huge fruit salad and pasta salad for me. It was super relaxing.

            We went to the uncle’s house at around two, and holy crap the food. There was an entire pig roasted on the umu, then breadfruit, taro, banana, chop suey, beef stew, chicken, rice, and the pasta and fruit salads. And I can’t forget the pulasami.   Needless to say, there was plenty I could eat. The only thing was the way they prepared the pig was by lying a paper towel over its back and cracking all of its ribs. AJ loved watching my pained expression. And the uncle told me that a little taste wouldn’t hurt me…I felt bad but obviously couldn’t do it. After we had stuffed ourselves and Leilua’s uncle had gotten firsts, seconds, two servings of dessert, and then went back for round two, he started talking about a few things. One really striking thing was about how he had diabetes, but it didn’t look like it because he was happy. Apparently all you need is to eat good food, sleep and be happy (sleeping is a huge thing on Sundays after going into a food coma). He insisted that it didn’t matter when he died as long as he was happy. He said what would be the point in eating differently and living longer if he was unhappy. It was an interesting glimpse into the unwillingness to change of the culture and into getting a little more perspective. It’s hard for less happy, always internationally meddling Americans to tell other cultures what to do and to expect an immediately positive response. Being healthy, active, and eating right are perhaps the things I am most passionate about, and I just don’t know how to do it without being completely intrusive upon a culture.

            The uncle then gave us a tour of the umu, and showed us the small plastic bin in which they drown the pigs. Which is their preferred method of killing although they also sometimes use guns and knives. I snapped a picture, and AJ watched for my discomfort the whole time.

            It’s interesting to feel like such a weirdo being vegan, especially since I’m so used to it being something that’s at least relatively normal. Especially at home and at school, and even in Costa Rica it wasn’t too big of a deal in many cases. It makes me think of how different I might have ended up if I had had different experiences and lived in different environments. Being the only person with a particular lifestyle is definitely a challenge, and I definitely would not have been inspired to do it without having people around me to make me realize that it wasn’t that big of a deal and that it was totally acceptable…

            Tonight we were comatose on the couch for a few hours after getting home and then started packing….GAHH craziness! Less than three days before we leave for vacation!

This past weekend we attended several social gatherings, including a dance party at one of the “reception centers” (VERY loose term) on the beach during which our friend Mike acted as dj. It was pretty awesome. Then on Saturday we headed to a beach which actually has bathrooms and a shower and some fales in which people can hang out and camp! A bunch of people went diving, but I didn’t have any gear so I didn’t. It also would have been my first dive outside of my lovely little quarry certification dive. AJ and I hung out on the beach for several hours talking about life. It was one of those profound and inspiring conversations, and I really enjoyed it. As of now, the plan is not to save the world single handedly and not to be overly hard on myself. Rather, it’s time to really enjoy life during my senior year of college, learn some things, and realize that I’m not going to come up with a solution to all of the unbelievable problems on my own. I need to find my little sliver in which I can find happiness and make a difference, and I will.

            Saturday I had my first hot shower since arriving! We went to Kristine’s house after the beach to shower and change to go to a dinner at our friend Leilua’s house. The dinner was fabulous. Leilua is half Samoan (her father came here over 30 years ago from California), and she’s just awesome. Our other friend Quinana who is Leilua’s best friend also came. Her house is so beautiful, deeply set back from the road with a large yard in front and a spectacular garden her mom maintains. The house itself has tons of windows and huge rooms with tall ceilings and is decorated with Samoan art and beautiful photos of the family. Quinana played ukulele and sang with Leilua, and we all sat around talking while Leilua’s mom cooked. The girls are extraordinarily talented! It makes me miss Noah and Dan playing a lot; all of them playing together would sound great. Since Leilua’s dad grew up in southern California, they prepared us Mexican food. And Leilua’s mom even cooked things specially for me! There was Spanish rice and fried corn tortillas and whole wheat tortillas and guacamole and salsa and salad and artichoke hearts and asparagus and papaya and cantaloupe and grapes and for the meat eaters there were  refried beans and enchiladas and ground beef. It was delicious. After dinner we sat around and talked, and Leilua’s mom told me a story about Leilua’s high school graduation party during which they had 150 kids at their house. Apparently there was dancing on the deck, and the entire deck collapsed. Then Leilua danced for us! She has been taking classes since she was five, and danced hula, ancient Hawaiin dance, Tongan, and Samoan. It was spectacular.

            On Sunday we went to Tisa’s and hung out on the beach with our newest group of Coast Guard friends. Then yesterday I did my friend Lisa’s P 90 X yoga dvd. It was an hour and a half, and now my entire body is in pain. I love it. We also went to a bbq to celebrate the fourth to which I brought a “cake”? I had made. Originally the idea was to make chocolate chip cookies, but we couldn’t find any chocolate chips without milk fat in them, so I decided to make snickerdoodles. Considering I had no recipe, no measuring devices, and no baking sheet, and had never made them before, whatever I made turned out pretty well. We thought what we were making would be cookie cakes, but they really turned into some sort of cinnamon sugar cake/bread to which we of course added some chocolate frosting. I like them, and the entire pan was pretty much gone by the end of the evening yesterday, so I’m going to call it an almost success.

            I also realized how pathetic it is that I can’t hula hoop and have never been able to. I’m convinced that I’m perhaps the only girl in the world (with the exception of my mother) who can’t do it. It’s a rhythm thing I guess? I spent literally hours yesterday practicing, sweating like a pig, hogging the hula hoop and snatching it back whenever people would come over and have one try. Hannah became my personal coach, and I definitely did improve by the end of the night. It’s a new goal for me. I’m getting one and practicing when I get home. I look a little spastic while doing it, and more than once people implied that they would be too embarrassed to practice in front of everyone if they couldn’t do it like I was doing…it took me back to my gymnastics days when I would stay at the gym a half hour late after my four or five hour practices just to get a skill right. Except this was a little more sad. AJ hula hooping is also probably my favorite thing ever to watch. He thrashes about, thrusting his hips wildly in all directions. Kelly is totally a pro, doing it without thinking or trying at all. Life’s not fair. I can’t believe I just wrote such a long paragraph about hula hooping…

            Another highlight of the evening was making a coconut bra for Ava. This guy Robert worked on one out of a coconut Ava had cut the meat out of, using a broken knive and a corkscrew to drill holes in it and fashioning straps out of twine and palm fronds…it was pretty hilarious.

            Anyway, LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT. So crazy! I’ll definitely have some more exciting stories to share after this weekend. 

Why I'm famous

Epic blog entry commence. I know I get ramble-y and boring, so I will attempt to write this one in poem form. Was going to rhyme, but it looks like mostly free versing is all I’m capable of…

Our time with our car was over on Thursday evening

We brought the car to the airport for the family we were renting it from to have upon their return

And that meant we had our first experience on the Aiga bus on Friday

These things are rocking, let me tell you

Only a dollar no matter where you go

And they run very regularly during rush hour

In the past we had used our car to go to and from work so Kelly could take it out to her snorkel sites

And AJ could use it for surveying

And because we often stopped to go food shopping and to head to various after work activities

So anyway, I hate this stupid poetry nonsense. Not happening. And completely failing

            So basically we had to start taking busses because we were no longer renting a car. I actually am really digging it, especially now that we’re comfortable with the island and have friends to drive us when we need rides. The only problem is that busses stop running at 6 or 6:30 pm and stop running by early afternoon on Saturday and don’t run on Sundays. We can also taxi when we really need to though. And a lot of the activities we participate in are close to our house (like Tae Bo and Frisbee) so walking or running to and from them isn’t bad at all. Aiga busses are manufactured here, meaning they take the front part of an old car or truck and make a wooden frame to stick on the back of it, pop some little wheels on, and you’re golden. I am flabbergasted they don’t constantly break down. Anyway, they always blast fun music from the CDs they have (there is only one radio station here that isn’t a Christian radio station and we had no other option in our car, and while that station isn’t bad normally, on our way to work they play some really obnoxious morning talk show, along the lines of the Z Morning Zoo but much worse, so you can imagine how bad…) the other thing is that the busses are decorated in such an awesome way on the inside…like the one today had rainbow feather boas and pieces of velvety dolphin blanket lining the inside front and another one the other day had a rubber eagle centerpiece flapping its wings when the bus moved. They also say random things on them and are decorated in a million colors on the outside. Riding in those with the windows down and music pumping, looking out onto the ocean with no responsibilities is the best way to start and end anyone’s day. I love it. They also take random detours and will stop at literally any point along the road, whenever anyone taps on the side or pulls a string attached to a bell type thing.

            Saturday morning we awoke at the crack of early morning light (actually like an hour before it) around 4:45 am to prepare for a day of Samoan Olympic games. Our friend Zach came and picked AJ and me up around five to bring us to the Avena Brothers grocery store where the first event, a 10k to Utule Beach where the rest of the festivities would take place. JJ and I were the only two to run it, and our friend Nyaz made us a sign that said on one side “Go team A-J!” and on the other said “JJ is Sexy”…not that he didn’t earn that statement…Anyway, it was still dark and had started raining, with wind whipping everywhere by a little after six when we started running. Aside from the weather, it was nice and cool, and the route was beautiful along the coastal road, and I had such a nice run. It was just great. I ended up finishing in third with a time of 51 minutes…my first time ever running a race longer than a mile so it was good, and I know I can do better. I got a medal for getting second place out of the girls! They also had Zumba which I participated in for a bit, and then there was a 40 yard dash and weight lifting and then all of the people hanging out with us put together teams of two for beach volleyball which was really fun.

            Then there was beach wrestling. I was really excited to watch the guys, but the ridiculous part was that Nyaz convinced me to do it with her since there were no other girls signed up. Anyway, it gets pretty intense. My one rule was that she couldn’t rip my shirt like one of the guys had done to JJ. It was a real competition, and I had no idea what I was doing. It is also WAY more exhausting than it looks, especially after waking up before 5 am, running 6 miles and playing volleyball…She knocked me on my back in the first round, and that should have been a hands down win, but the ref really wanted to see girls wrestle so he said that didn’t count as an immediate win since I landed on my butt first…anyway I ended up figuring out how to do it and getting the three points to beat her. I thought that was the end of it, but then the ref (who is also a wrestling coach) made me face the winner of the guys…who was a 16 year old shorter than me, all muscle, and heading to the junior Olympics for wrestling. I actually got the first point! But then he kicked my butt…Anyway, most importantly, Nyaz and I wrestling ended up as a HUGE picture in the newspaper!!! I’m basically famous. Don’t worry Mom, I have a copy!!

            The other highlight of our weekend was instigated by a guy named Nico. On Saturday night we went out with our Coast Guard friends to a BBQ at the house of the family that owns an oil response team and has been working with the Coast Guard on the boats that have sank and leaked oil into the harbor. Anyway, one of the Coast Guard guys, Seth, has a sleeve and a half of tattoos and is adding to it with a Samoan tattoo while here. He met one of the family members, Nico, who is a tattoo artist, and planned to get a tattoo done by him. We were talking to him and one of our friends had been planning to get a tattoo while here and had originally wanted to do it in the traditional tapping method by the only guy on the island who does it, Wilson. But Wilson is off island, and so he’s been looking for someone else. I, of course, got to talking with Nico and my friend and worked out him coming over to our house the following day (Sunday) and doing the tattoo. The crazy thing was that he actually remembered and called us up and came over yesterday and did the tattoo with my pretty preppy and clean-cut friend sprawled out on our couch on a garbage bag, getting a shark tattoo on his upper thigh. Nico just shows up at our house with his brother and a tattoo gun, takes off his shirt (exposing a tattoo-covered 300 pound physique), makes an inappropriate comment about Kelly being a white girl but having a butt and the fact that our friend better not get excited while he’s touching his thigh, and goes to town. (This guy even had two tattoos on his wrist done by his daughters, who he had instructed to give him tattoos of their names when they were three and five years old). He drew out a basic outline with sharpie first and then completely free handed with the gun afterwards. It looks AWESOME and our friend barely even flinched. Then Nico ceremoniously washed his leg off and massaged it a bit in a gesture that is thought of traditionally as apologizing for putting the person through pain and voila.

            Then on Sunday we went back to our favorite spot, Tisa’s, and met a cool dude with dreads who had been in the Navy for ten years and is now working for the Forestry Service who is actually housemates with another Hollings scholar in Hilo, Hawaii. He wants to study in Costa Rica! We also met a woman who has been sailing around the world for 20 years who was with her French boyfriend. She wanted to study at my university in Costa Rica because she was looking to settle down a bit. She was looking for a place that was “Boho chique” and did not actually speak Spanish, but figured she’d pick it up since she spoke French and Italian. She was really interesting, but I had to give her a bit of a reality check in terms of Costa Rica. Of course I absolutely fell in love with it, but the Universidad Nacional is not exactly the most organized of places, nor is it of the same academic caliber as universities in the states or Europe…and I wouldn’t exactly describe it as “boho chique”…actually I wouldn’t at all describe it as that. Not even close. But she was so fascinating, and we talked about indigenous communities for a while and what determines “progress” and “happiness” and if “development” is necessarily a good thing and to what extent…and what “quality of life” translates to…

            Then there were a bunch of eels that came up really close to shore, actually pretty much on shore at our feet when Tisa threw some old fish into the water. There was even a reef shark! And today when I was out snorkeling at Airport beach on our way back we saw 2 sting rays then 16 eagle rays and a turtle! It was spectacular!

            Also, at the Olympics I met the retired Land Grant horticulturist, Larry, who is super awesome. He was drafted into the army and served in Vietnam back in the day, and he told me the first few months all he did was “smoke dope” literally all the time and then thought to himself, “what am I doing with my life?” then the guys realized he had a degree in agriculture and sent him to do some agricultural research, helping to figure out how to grow plants on land that was not very fertile, in the middle of nowhere, far away from the battlefield. He says he had an amazing time and has no idea what PTSD is like. He then searched for somewhere to go that reminded him of what his home used to look like (he was born and raised on Oahu in Hawaii and it obviously has changed a lot over the recent decades) and found here and fell in love with it. He worked in agriculture for 30 years, raised his five kids here, and is so content. Oh, and he also did the Peace Core in Thailand for five years either right before or right after Vietnam. Ironic much? We talked about passion, and he advised me to find something I really love and do it, not to think about how much money I will make. We talked about how many people seek educations and jobs solely to find high paying jobs and how empty that is because of how much of your life your job ends up being. He also agreed with my statement that your job is your main way of making an impact on the world. He is now retired and has no idea how anyone could be bored being retired since there are so many things to do, especially when you can grow your own food and have the satisfaction to know you created it, and when you can be outside. He is such a peaceful, genuinely content, easygoing and caring person. He also seems quite spiritual.

The other day I went to buy some produce from the market, and I got to talking to a women selling her fruit there. She asked me why I was here (cause let’s face it, there really aren’t many white people here and definitely not much tourism) and when I told her I was interning for Fagatele Bay she insisted on giving me like ten free giant fat bananas (there were at one point over 30 kinds of bananas here…now there are still over twenty!) and told me she was going to give them to the nuns but that I do basically the same thing…ummm…okay…then she gave me three free papayas (which I now really love and eat with a spoon at the office and spill all over myself) which she said she was originally going to eat herself. I told her I could buy them, but she insisted…man, I’m really not used to people being generous for no reason…it’s weird. If that had happened to my mom, she definitely would have cried…

            Another funny thing is that Kelly and I went with this guy from the Coast Guard to dance at the bar/club establishment Bowling Alley last Friday evening, and it was a site to behold. The two highlights were surely when a group of middle aged men swarmed our plate of French fries while we were dancing, and when we returned, they incessantly tried to feed me French fries. I think they liked watching women eat? Each time I turned my head, there was a new French fry poking in my face. You don’t know how sad they were when I refused. They did get me water though which was quite nice. The other highlight was when this one middle aged man just stood and stared at me, several inches away, whenever I got back from dancing. He then somehow ended up with us in the back of the pickup truck on our ride home and was a little over affectionate. I kept telling him that I had a fiancé and he insisted that it was okay because he had a palagi wife and a child who were returning the next day on the flight. Oh dear…

            Also, I’m working on building a garden at our new facility as part of my project. The land grant program at the American Samoa Community College is helping me out by providing us with the starter plants, some compost and is a great resource on composting ourselves and acquiring some more help with labor and some ideas. Brooke and Ian, a husband and wife here (the husband is Samoan and the horticulturist at Land Grant and the wife is originally from Maine) are helping me out with it. Brooke has designed gardens in Hawaii and set them up for various educational institutitions. She has also taught gardening classes, and she is helping plan it out. Ian showed me around land grant the other day where they are growing a ton of different things you never see at the markets-off the top of my head they have pineapple, papaya, lemongrass, figs, limes, 3 different kinds of sweet potato, 2 kinds of eggplant, collards, a little bit of kale, lau pele, passion fruit, chili peppers, basil, and way more. It reminded me a lot of Costa Rica, and Ian sent me home with a bunch of collards, kale, sweet potato greens, lau pele, eggplant, passion fruit, limes, and this other strange fruit I can’t remember the name of. That day we also picked out and dropped off more fabric to get clothing made and ate at this little restaurant owned by the head of a cooking school where they made me a veggie stir fry with tofu (first time I’ve had tofu on the island and it was AWESOME!). I also bought a book from a used book store entitled “How Animals Have Sex” with pictures and everything.

            That very same day we went to Tisa’s Barefoot Bar where they have a traditional Samoan Umu feast on Wednesdays. Almost everything they prepare is from their own organic plantation, and the feast takes several days to prepare. The umu is the traditional Samoan oven, which slow cooks items in layers over hot rocks and covered with banana leaves over a period of several hours. We ran into some of our friends there, and it was awesome. We ate with our hands out of plates woven from banana leaves, and as for things I could eat, they had taro and green banana and papaya cooked with cinnamon and squash with lau pele (leaves kind of like spinach) and coconuts filled with coconut milk mixed with onion and taro leaves (tastes kind of like spinach dip and called pulasami). It was all very good but very very rich. After our supper under a thatched roof looking out over the ocean, Tisa played ukulele and sang while her granddaughters performed traditional dances. Candyman (Tisa’s expat partner) told us about how they established their own marine reserve and talked to us about preparing food and how he is trying to grow all varieties of bananas Samoa has to offer. It was a fabulous evening.

            Last weekend we also tried to find this beach known as Palagi Beach. We drove out to where we thought it was, tried to scramble across some rocks to get there but couldn’t find it, then eventually kept driving. A family in a truck offered to lead us to a different beach, over some pretty rugged roads our little taupe 2001 Toyota Camry had a little trouble navigating, and we arrived at a beautiful secluded beach area. Turns out the guy leading us was the head of the Department of Agriculture here and we crash landed on a brunch and beach day for football recruiters, most importantly the head coach of Southern Methodist University. It was pretty random.

            So, food. Need to have a little update section on that. I’ve been frying those fat bananas as if they were plantains, and they’re really good. One time AJ and I ate them dipped in chocolate frosting. Another time we sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. My favorite was when I melted brown sugar and water and vanilla in a pot to give it the consistency of tapa dulce and it tasted almost exactly like the platanos maduros I learned how to make in Costa Rica. I also bought these amazing Asian buckwheat noodles and have been making stir fries with them. I bring a lot of the experimental foods to my boss who was raised vegan and loves them. I put in boc choy, onion, garlic, broccoli, wasabi peanuts, sesame seeds, sriracha hot sauce, and some of this gardene mandarin chickin and its sauce. It was awesome, and my boss loved it. Kelly also made fried rice the other night, and she thinks she burned it, but I thought it was awesome. I’ve still been making my weird breads that I love to eat in the morning-really filling and really healthy. I also tried a green papaya salad at this restaurant the other night-it was pretty good and kind of strange since the papaya was kind of like cucumber or something.

            Another cool thing is that we went to our good friend Dave’s tofa (means goodbye in Samoan, so his farewell party) last weekend and there was a woman from Wales who had learned how to fire dance, or Siva Afi, and did a demonstration. We practiced with practice ones which were lit up balls on the end of strings and I totally failed at it. It was really hard!

            There are also the cutest puppies ever that keep showing up at our house, and they look so healthy and furry and adorable and I couldn’t adopt them. But I took a video…which just made it harder.

            Anyway, life is good. Time moves so quickly! Under three weeks left here then it’s off to Western Samoa and Fiji! 

American Samoa is just such an interesting place. Things happen that just seem so absurd. For example, riding in the backs of pickup trucks is a very popular thing which is fine. But the thing is, people ride in the beds of pickup trucks in lawn chairs as if it was a normal seat back there. Also, for some reason just being a white person driving in a car is apparently very entertaining. Which I suppose makes sense since “palagis” make up significantly less than one percent of the population here. So we will drive around and groups of people will just laugh hysterically at us for no reason. Also, road maintenance often occurs during rush hour and consists of workers dumping gravel in potholes in between the moments cars drive over them.

            Another interesting thing is that there are constant cat fights in the night outside our house, with the strangest noises I have ever heard coming from these fighting cats, almost human noises actually. In the morning we see the cats with their battle wounds, sometimes bloody scratches on their faces. The other day we also discovered a headless dead chicken just lying in our driveway (see the next set of pictures I post) and couldn’t figure out whether or not it was the result of one of the cat fights and an angry cat decided to bite a chicken’s head off for intimidation factor or something…not really phased by much anymore evidently.

            So as I mentioned earlier, this really cool guy in his sixties who came here for the opening of the hyperbaric chamber bought the three of us gift certificates for massages at the spa at the nice hotel near our house. So that helped make for a spoiled weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner at one of the few restaurants then went to the hotel I stayed at for my site visit to hang out with our Coast Guard friend Dave and a bunch of Coast Guard guys from off island who were called in to work. They were working on getting a boat to float and cleaning the potentially thousands of gallons and oils that had spilled from it when it sunk in the harbor. One of the guys was from New Jersey, knew Holmdel because of our intense cross country course, and had gone to school in Cinnaminson (the town my dad grew up in!) and even knew my dad’s street! They were all really cool, and an older Samoan man asked me to dance to the live music that was being played.

            On Saturday we went out to Airport Beach, the beach right off of the airport runway. To get there you have to walk 30 minutes along the airport fence, through piles of fallen coconuts and trash. There is a crazy amount of trash there because so much is washed up by the ocean, and Kelly made a good point that the tsunami probably brought a ton. It makes sense because it’s not like this on the other beaches. But then again, this one is much less often frequented. There’s only a thin strip of land between the fence and the ocean. There were tons of shoes, toys, clothing, even a child’s tricycle and a rusted old refrigerator. It made me really sad to see. But the beach itself once we got there was so amazing. It was pretty much made of coral rubble, and the day was gorgeous. We snorkeled a bit, and Kelly identified some coral for me. There were also hermit crabs EVERYWHERE, especially all over my towel and bag.

            After the beach, even though we had put on tons of sunscreen, we realized how burnt we had gotten. Me especially. It was absolutely ridiculous. AJ and Kelly went to get their massages while I went for a run and then I went to get mine. It was glorious, and it didn’t even hurt my sun burn. The woman who massaged me was Fijian which was great because I actually just bought my tickets to go to Fiji today! Kelly and I are going to Fiji, and AJ is going to New Zealand. I at first was pretty torn up about where to go and even tried to figure out how to go to both, but we just didn’t have enough time. I even at one point was totally set on New Zealand. I chose Fiji because 1. I’ll get to SCUBA dive for the first time, and Kelly is an experienced diver, so it’ll be nice to have her there 2. I don’t know when I’ll get the opportunity to go back there, and even though it’s tropical islands, it’s very different from here 3. New Zealand is freezing right now, and I would only be there for less than 10 days, some of them without AJ since he has to leave earlier than Kelly and me. I know NZ is a place I really want to go and spend a decent amount of time in, so I figured it’s not necessary to go now. I am really excited about Fiji, and we’re spending some time in Western Samoa on either end of our trip since we have to fly in and out of that airport!

            Saturday night we went to a party at our boss Emily’s house which was tons of fun. Then, Sunday, Zack, who is Emily’s boyfriend’s 17 year old son (he went to high school in Peru and lived with his mom since she lives there and we speak Spanish sometimes which is awesome!) took us to this place called Sliding Rock which is absolutely spectacular. It is basically a sheet of volcanic rock, eroded differently in different places by the ocean and weathering, and it has little tidal pools throughout it. We snorkeled in one of the pools, and every so often a wave would crash over the rock protecting the pool and cascade into it in a little waterfall. Then we just stood out on a little cliff and looked at the crazy vertical inter tidal zone and talked and thought about how absurdly beautiful it is here. And how the fact that none of these places have been turned into tourist attractions makes them all that much more amazing.

            Another awesome thing here is that there are fabric stores with hundreds of types of fabrics all over and seamstresses who will make you made-to-order dresses, skirts and pulatasis (the “traditional”, or at least after the missionaries came what have been known as traditional, skirt and shirt combinations here). They are custom fit and designed by you and extraordinarily inexpensive. It’s really cool. Although, of course, Kelly and I went in to get fitted for pulatasis last Friday, they promised they would be ready a week later, and they weren’t. That day they swore to us they would be ready by Tuesday, which again they weren’t. They swore to Kelly Thursday, but she said my fabric was still sitting on the sewing table untouched when she went in to pick them up…oh, patience. I’m really trying to learn that. That’s how so many things are here though. Like when we got prepaid internet and they forgot to ever enter us in the system so we never got the internet and had to go back to the store and wait an hour and a half for them to understand what they did wrong…or the fact that there are two cell phone providers here and the two don’t have the capacity to text each other’s phones…and when I was having trouble with one of our phones and called customer service he told me he would let the tech guy know I was having trouble and when I asked if he needed my information he said no he would just let the tech guy know that someone was having trouble with her phone. So anyway I really am pretty low maintenance here and getting more patients with those types of things.

            Also, the other day I went to this Tae Bo class taught by Nika, one of the coolest ever Samoan women in my office. It’s free, and it’s three days a week taught in this super warm little community center type place. It is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. She blasts music, and the place is filled with about 40 people of all ages and all fitness levels. It’s a great work out no matter what shape you’re in, and the little routines are high energy and like dancing and fighting at the same time. I could not wipe the smile off my face. It was awesome.

            I’ve also been cooking up a storm. I really really love cooking. I made carrot bread using rice flour and raisins and walnuts and oat bran and flax and wheat germ and almond milk, and it’s delicious although I might have grated my hand a bit…I also made this AMAZING chili that’s just super good. Then I made green banana ceviche from a recipe I found online, but it was wayyy too lemon-y so I really have to ask my host mom for her recipe. But it’s actually really good when I mix a bit with the chili and put it over quinoa or rice. Then I made Christine’s mom’s candied pecan recipe which I brought to the party Saturday and everyone loved! My most recent invention was the stuffed eggplant I made last night. I sautéed onion and garlic and the scooped out inside of the local eggplant with some local boc choy then added a bit of salt and pepper. I scooped this inside of the eggplant skins, sprinkled pecans and sesame seeds on it, drizzled some balsamic vinegar over the top, and baked it in the oven. It turned out great and was one hundred percent made up so could have turned out terribly.

            On another note, so much for that host mom thing here. Not really sure what happened, but I don’t think she likes us as much anymore. She also always calls me Kelly. But the other day she took us aside and told us her energy bill was $60 higher this past month than it usually is and basically blamed it on us doing laundry in her machine…which we have done exactly three loads of. So, although electricity is approximately 3.3 times more expensive here than the mainland average, $20 a load doesn’t exactly sound right. She basically asked us to pay her $60 and went on about how she and her husband don’t work because they have to take care of her mother…all in all quite an uncomfortable situation. We just told her we would do our laundry in the Laundromat like we had intended to before she had offered to do it in our machine…and I’ve been washing stuff in the sink and wearing quite smelly workout clothes twice.

            Frisbee is still super fun, although it is sometimes hard not to get too invested in it. It’s really weird to be playing without any rules but definitely something I’m always looking forward to. We also got a few more friends to come out this time which always makes it better. The only bad thing is that one of the middle aged guys we play with had a bad fall and tore some ligaments in his ankle since the field has a lot of pot holes…so today another guy brought some buckets of dirt and some people went around and filled all of the holes to make it safer. I still got taken out when Brian (the other guy who has played for a while) and I were both going for the Frisbee from different directions and he basically decked me as I was in the air for the disc. But I’m absolutely fine, Mom and Dad.

            I’ve been rambling about the minute details of my entire life for a bit too long now. To anyone who has the patience to read this (I certainly wouldn’t), sorry for being so verbose, it’s a problem I’ve always had. To the parents, I know you love me giving this many excruciating details, so I love you and you’re welcome.

            Another really really exciting thing is that I just found out today that my brothers have been chosen to be featured guest performers at The Folk Project Weekend in October, which is the event I wrote my college essay on and deemed “Hippie Fest”. Anyway, they get to play at the concerts they have, lead workshops, and get free participation and food and lodging and everything for the weekend. I am soo proud of them and so excited to go see them!! 

AJ's deep fried grilled cheese, passing out on a bare mattress, and hiking some serious waterfalls