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.