End of January

Wow, the last day of January has already come and gone. This wasn't my best week at school. Tuesday was a little rough for me for a couple of different reasons, but it's all good. I had some moments, but who doesn't? I'm still human. Good things also happened this week.

I spoke to 4 classes about our SERVE group from college and my passion for volunteering on Wednesday. After their reflections on Thursday, I learned that a lot of them enjoyed hearing about some of my friends and why I am a volunteer. May have inspired a few of them.

The other 2 classes for the day, our friend Sam came in and spoke. She is originally from Texas and works as a nurse in the pediatric unit at the hospital here on the island. One thing she enjoys about working is here is how much she gets to put her hands into things, like mixing up her own IV's and having to innovate a bit, making do with what supplies they have. It was really interesting to hear her talk about. It was cool to hear how excited she is about what she does - almost made me want to be a nurse in my next life.

After school ended, Hannah, Sam, and I did a little grocery shopping, grabbed some ice cream cookie sandwiches, and chatted a bit before parting our ways. These ice cream sandwiches we had were composed of two huge homemade cookies by Cindy, a lady that owns an Internet Cafe and used book shop, on the island. Yummy. Added up my calories for the day, right there. haha

Zumba class has moved to TJ's Gym for the next month, which means I have to pay the $20 fee for  the month. I can walk to TJ's no problem, so I can make it work. At first, this was one of the not so exciting things that came about on my Tuesday. After going on Thursday, though, I decided I'm going to pay it for this month because I still enjoy going. I really do enjoy my exercise and like changing it up. Still kicking it with the Insanity program. Almost half way done with the 9-week program :-)

Bit of a briefer post this week. I'm a bit wore out this week. I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight as I didn't sleep to well Wednesday night after church. Oh, church... that reminds me... Last post I talked about having a Samoan banana smoothie at the market with my friends from church. Well, they thought I should mention that when we got them the lady scooped it up out of a cooler. A little ghetto. haha Can't say I've ever had a smoothie served like that before. True Samoan style they aid. haha

Have a good weekend, friends and family!

Out of the House with Friends

Friday was a really good day at school for me as I didn't teach the same thing all day like I usually do. I flip flopped some lessons, and it was a nice change of pace. The day was over before I knew it. Made it home, got my workout in, and then I went to the first youth night church had in a while. A few of the high schoolers kept inviting me to come, and I finally decided this was the Friday I would go check it out.

The Tongan boys picked me up and we headed there around 6pm, where the boys played football for a while and I chatted with a few of the girls. Then, we headed inside to play a few games before having the Bible lesson. I enjoyed being there, and it was nice to see them all enjoying themselves.

Leave the church around 9pm, and then Richard asks me what I'm going to do when I get home. Probably read my book for a while and go to sleep. He said he had to take his siblings back to Leloaloa, which is a village past town, and said they were going to stop at the market for some food; he asked if I wanted to join. I did, and it was really fun to hang out with the group outside of church.   We had some Samoan banana "smoothies", which looked like really mashed up banans to me (maybe blended) with some nuts in it. It was good. I never really knew what was being sold at all the Samoan food vendors, as all the words were in Samoan. Next time I might be a little more brave and try some random things. We also had some panikekes. Last time I mentioned this I may have said deep fat fried pancake ball, but I have thought of a better comparison. They are funnel cake balls. After the drive out there, stop, and drive back, I rolled back into home around 10:45pm. Full night and enjoyable time. I've been meaning to get out of the house more after spending a decent amount of time there the past few weekends.

Saturday morning slept in a little, and then Hannah and I headed to Sualua's for our breakfast. I tried their short stack made from homemade batter today. Definitely something a little different about them, and they were yummy. A little different texture. We ended up sitting in the cafe for 2.5 hours. Felt like we were back in Apia. We take our time eating, slowly drink our iced tea, and then keep chatting and chatting and before we know it it's 11am.

Completed week #3 of Insanity Saturday afternoon before relaxing for the afternoon. I joined my friends Melanie and Dan for dinner at the Koko Bean, where I enjoyed some mashed potatoes and a side green salad. We chatted there for a while and then hopped over to Toa for some dessert. We ordered one of each they had on the menu that night (chocolate cheesecake, German chocolate cake, and banana cream pie) and passed them around sharing all three.

We were meeting up with Frank and Josh (our Florida friends that work with one of the phone companies) and a few other teacher friends for Josh's birthday. We all sat, chatted, and enjoyed ourselves at Toa for a while, and then went and did a little dancing. I'm glad I decided to go out again and hang out with a nice group of people. I hadn't really seen Frank and Josh since November maybe, even though they live just up the hill from me. haha

Sunday was a bum it day - slept in, did a little chatting with friends back home including a Skype session with Cassie, and took a nap. I woke up from my nap to a beautiful rain and little thunderstorm. I forgot how much I love nice thunderstorms. Something relaxing about them, and the rain can be very calming. Then, I decided I wanted to get a little exercise in so worked out my lower body with The Firm's "Tight Buns and Killer Legs". Hadn't done that one in a while. It was funny when I started doing this one after my Insanity workout on Saturday, but then I stopped after the warm-up because it seemed so slow after doing what I just did. haha

Have a great week everyone! It will be interesting having a full work week for me after a 3-day one last week.

from a "Cyclone" Day to a Workout Marathon

I bought a giant container of oatmeal the other day, as I have been eating it from time to time lately. Really healthy for you and goes well with some of my fresh produce. Monday I decided I wanted to make some no-bake cookies. Didn't have a whole lot of chocolate on hand, so they are more peanut buttery - but I really enjoyed it. Plus, they are less unhealthy without the chocolate. Yum yum. Hannah was impressed. I'm not a very good baker, but these did not require any placing in the oven. haha Yummy little snack.

After the already scheduled day off on Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day), started seeing some reports of a tropical depression that was expected to develop into a cyclone by midnight. None of the reports sounded too bad, though. The strongest wind predicted for where I live was 40mp , which was nothing compared to the 120mp they were predicting last time. Also, predictions of heavy rain. I woke up about 1:30am to some rather heavy rain and thought, "Oh maybe it is going to get closer this time." Not quite. Woke up at 6am to find that public schools were closed on Tuesday and to take precautions in case. The predictions as to what exactly would happen kept changing. Looks like our 3-day weekend just turned into a 4-day weekend.

Perfectly clear day on the island of Tutuila. Sounds like Manu'a (the outer islands) may have faced a little bit of the strong winds, but nothing major. Ended up being one of the clearest days we've had in a while. Wait, didn't we cancel school because of an impending cyclone? Precautionary, I guess. One nice day it turned out to be. 

I decided to head out of the house around 11, stopping at the shopping center where I grabbed a chai tea latte at the Koko Bean Cafe. I saw a few of my football boys, and they came over and chatted with me for a while. They asked what I was up to, and I told them I might go head to Nu'uuli Falls. "By yourself?", they ask. "Yes, by myself. You guys know I do that a lot." They were contemplating joining me as they didn't think I should really walk by myself. Sheesh. haha I encouraged them to come along, though. I wish more of my students would get out and enjoy the beautiful island around them.

I figured I should eat a little something before heading out, so we moved over to Carls Jr., where I enjoyed a little serving of sweet potato fries. Then, off I went to Nu'uuli Falls with Isaiah and Filipo. Like I said it was really enjoyable for me to see some students actually going on a little nature walk and having fun. They all usually just talk about how bored they are on the weekends, minus doing chores.

Did the double Insanity workout that was on the schedule for Monday before sitting down working on a bit for school, catching up with some of my friends back home, and relaxing for the rest of the day.

Wednesday back to school, we went. Hannah and I had asked our field director to be our guest speaker this week. She gave a really nice presentation talking a little about what her current job is, a little about her family, asked all the students to introduce themselves, discussed her college experience, discussed a list of interests she has and the 6 jobs she has had since she graduated from college 4 years ago. Her big take home message was it is okay not to know what you want to do and encouraged them to try things out. Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm not sure what life has in store for me after this school year is complete. I'm really glad she came in and shared this with our students. She also thought it was cool how we were asking various community members and friends to come and share with our classes. She even helped us brainstorm a few more ideas.

Got the Insanity Cardio Abs in right after school. Then, I headed to church Wednesday night, where I ended up being recruited to be on kid duty during the sermon. That meant taking 9 kids between the ages of 1 and 7 back into the little kitchen and playing quietly. I think I learned I do not want to have 9 kids, at least not that close in age. haha Smooth sailing for the most part, a few criers, a few accidental hits, toys all over the floor, but hey we all made it back out safe and sound. :-) I do enjoy playing with the kids.

Thursday 6th period was actually rather decent. Some talked too much, but I was actually happy with most of them. Not a battle with them Thursday. 4th period however wasn't really paying attention to a single thing I said, so I decided they could just copy the notes and then do an assignment. Not worth my breath to try to explain things when only 2 out of 40 are actually listening to me. Switched my original lesson plan out to accomodate for this. 2nd period was fantastic, and we actually ended up having a really good discussion about the guest speaker series and how Wednesday went. They also asked me more questions about my plans, which are undecided. We didn't get through as much of the news article as some of my other classes, but this was perfectly fine. They were curious and asking questions, and we were having a nice conversation about it. I encourage this type of thinking any day. Interested, curious, asking questions. Yay!

Finally, I unintentionally participated in a little bit of a Workout Marathon Thursday after school. So, my Zumba class doesn't start until 4:30, and school releases at 3pm. I walked to McDonald's quick for a little ice cream cone because it sounded good, plus I only had a little bit of rice and a banana for lunch. Breakfast was great - yummy biscuit (I swear these wheat ones we get at school are some of my favorites) with some bananas.

So a little walk in before coming back to my classroom. I've been getting my Insanity workout in before Zumba class, but since today was just the Cardio Recovery, meaning lots of muscle stretching and holding poses, I decided to throw in some Cardio Abs before class with the intention of doing the Recovery stretches after I made it home from Zumba class. Nice Zumba workout as usual, and then when I asked Peteru (the instructor) for a ride home, he asked if I didn't mind coming to a class he was leading at 6:30 in Otttoville. He figure I'd be up for another workout. You betcha. Off to Ottoville we went, where he was leading a little bit of a tae-bo and Zumba combo workout to the Mormon church group in the village. Family event - there were kids, moms, grandmas, dads, uncles, etc.

I was the only palagi here, so I'm rather sure they all realized I was there. Part of the Zumba posse up front, thank you very much where some could follow me if they couldn't catch Peteru's every move up on the stage. There were some kids up front who kept smiling at me and trying to stand close to me as we worked out. haha, cute kids, so I gave them each a high five throughout and then talked to them a bit afterwards. Man was I sweating up a storm by the time we finished this session. Not much air flow in the gym we were in, which made me sweat more. It was fun to Zumba with a different crowd and add in the little tae-bo influence at the beginning before doing some of the regular songs I know every move to.

Finally, after arriving home feeling fantastic, I knew I still wanted to do the Insanity Recovery workout. Just a half hour of holding poses and stretching well. I almost thought about skipping it or doing it Friday morning instead, but nope that would not fit well with my goal and schedule. My muscles were a bit tired so it burned even more at some points but good feelings. Also, since I was already rather warmed up, I continued to drip sweat through these stretches. I don't usually too much while doing the recovery workout, but think I may have sweated gallons today. haha Thus, completed the workout marathon on Thursday, January 24th. Like I said, unintentional. The regular plan was simply Insanity Recovery and regular Zumba. Added a few more.

Side note I want to mention. Not sure if I posted this photo from my trip, but it is currently the background on my computer and I am really digging it. I took this photo on the island of Savai'i the night I spent in the air-conditioned hotel in Saleloga. I love the clouds and all the shades of blue.

I had some energy to work on this blog post, do some reading, and then I may eventually go to bed. haha Woot!  Must be all the endorphins talking. Hope you all have a nice Friday and enjoy your weekend. Until next time...

Hanging out

First, yes you are still in the right place if you are interested in following the ins and outs of my experience in American Samoa. I changed the background of my blog for fun. I know it can throw you off, but this is indeed the blog written by Jessica Boschen of Newman Grove, NE :-)

Karen, my new friend from Missouri, who stayed a few nights with us and spoke to our classes on Wednesday flew back on the Thursday night flight. Hawaiian Airlines flies out of Pago Pago twice a week on red-eye flights. It was really great meeting her, hanging out with her, chatting, and having her as a guest in my classroom. She has had some really cool life experiences already and is a year younger than I am. I got her to take a photo with Hannah and I as we were just chatting on the porch before she left.

Finally took a photo of a panikeke to post on my blog. Sorta a pancake ball. One of my coworkers usually has a bag of them with him every morning and will offer them to us when we clock in each morning. I take one every now and then. One of the other teachers even made a comment on Friday that if we eat them we'll look more Samoan. Haha

Ended up getting a ride home Friday with a lady named Ed who works for the power authority. (Ed is actually short for her long Samoan name.) She was really friendly and knew the teachers that were here last year living where I do now. Got in my Insanity workout for the day and then headed into town, where some of us were meeting up to celebrate a few birthdays. The plan was to eat at Evalani's - a restaurant with Mexican food, but when we arrived they told us they had some remodeling being done so the kitchen was closed. Alright then. We headed to the next closest place - the Sadie Thompson Inn, where I had some tempura battered mushrooms. Yum. The gathering Friday night oddly turned out being all science teachers, actually all but one of us were present. It was a fun little night with some 80s music in the background, quiet room, fun conversation, and randomness.

I spent the night at the house where the volunteers live in town as I wanted to check mail in the morning. I knew I would wake up earlier than everyone else, so I had already discussed with them what time to meet up at the post office as I would head out and do a few other things beforehand. Oye, I slept even less than I anticipated thanks to the giant groups of dogs that fought all night. Boy were they loud and annoying. I really wish I would have recorded the sound for you. They were obnoxious.

Woke up at 6am (Yes, on a Saturday. haha). I decided it would be nice to do the little nature walk up to Blunt's Point first thing. The trail head is only a few minutes walk from the house in Gatavai. I took a few pictures on my little trip up there.

I thought this was a nice shot of the road along the coast with some natural framing:

Here's some trees framing the flower pot island in a little "nature window":

Was nice to sit up at the lookout point for a while and take in the view. It looked different at 7am. I really liked the waves around the flowerpot island at this time. Something really calming about it.

I also did a little reading while I was sitting up there with this as my backdrop:

 The sun was also peeking over some clouds for a while, and then when it finally came all the way out I decided to move down the trail a ways to some shade. Read for about a half hour or so before I decided to move again.

 Next stop one of the public fales in Utulei:

Then, I decided I was ready for breakfast. I headed to Matai restaurant in Fagatago for a short stack of pancakes and a few cups of coffee. Sat at a bus stop for a while after that reading some more before it was time to meet up with the others to check the mail. Got the box from home I was expecting which had the things I asked for - including some Golden Oreos (a little treat) and a few surprises - including some more books (courtesy of my dad this time). Sure hope I can finish all these books before the end of the year. I love my little library. Simply having them sitting in my room makes it feel even more homey.

After the double Insanity workout on the schedule when I came back home (Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs), I had a nice little snack. Slices of orange with a few of my Golden Oreos and a glass of ricemilk. The workout felt really good on Saturday. Week two of nine complete. It is going to be March 9th in no time.

Sunday morning I received a giant banana from Miss Tia. Delicious banana for breakfast on our way to church, and then she gave me another one, which I saved for later. On the left side of this photo you see a rather normal sized banana. On the right you see the banana on steroids. Probably the biggest banana I've ever seen. My hand is also in this photo for comparisons. 

Got a little cardio workout in later Sunday afternoon otherwise just spent some time hanging out much like I did Saturday afternoon and evening. Nice weekend. I loved the feeling of accomplishing so much already by 8:30am on Saturday morning. As I was sitting in Utulei, I found myself thinking how odd my American brain found it to see kids out swimming in the ocean already at 8am. haha. Most people wake up early here, so I sorta fit right in with that.

Here's a picture I found on my computer of a student and me. This is Sheila. I have subbed for her Chemistry class before and she often hangs out in my room before school and during lunch. She's started reading my blog and says I should write a book. haha I've had a few other people tell me that, but my blog is basically my journal and a way of staying in touch with people back home. This picture is from a few months ago I believe. My hair is at my shoulders. Gonna be the longest I've let it get by the time I make it home in June.

That reminds me. I have a flight officially booked for home. Prices were decent right now and from what I've heard the flights in June fill up fast leaving this island. I have it set so I will have time to see friends and family, catch up, run some errands, and relax a bit before the road trip to Houston, TX for my cousin's wedding. Super excited for Seth and Kathryn! Still 4.5 months away, but these 4.5 months are going to be over before I know it. Already 10% done with classes for the semester, I have 2 out of the 9 weeks of the Insanity program complete, and days keep flying by. My ticket says I will be landing in Omaha on Wednesday, June 5th at 12:30pm for anyone who needs proof that I am indeed coming back to Nebraska. :-)

I jumped around a bit toward the end of this post, but I hope you all have a great week. Just another good day in the life for me.

Babysitter, Perspective, Palagi, and Driver

A few weeks ago I had offered to Pastor Scot and his wife Katie to babysit if they ever wanted a night off. They took me up on my offer this Tuesday so they could go on a children free date before the new baby comes, which will be in few short weeks. That means I got to spend a couple hours with Jeffrey and Jenna. They were rather good for the night. I've seen both of their bad sides, but we had a great time together this night without any fuss really.

Here's the kiddos I got to spend some time with. Had to change Jenna's diaper once, and man I don't even remember the last time I changed a diaper. Don't worry. I still know how to do it. hahaha Also, funniest thing Jeffrey said all night. As his parents were getting ready to leave, he says to his mom , "Why do married people have to do that - go on dates?" Katie's responded, "To keep mommies and daddies happy." hahaha

After we ate dinner, we played a little, colored some pictures, read some stories, and watched a little video. The kids were also quite interested in my camera, so we had some fun with that. Jeffrey thought he was quite the little photographer.

Jenna and I making chipmunk cheeks:

Jeffrey and I acting silly:

Auntie Jessica with her coloring book: (Auntie Jessica is what Jeffrey calls me.)

Then, Jeffrey just took a bunch of random photos, including several of the story book pages I was reading to him and his sister.

Wednesday was the first of many guest speakers I hope to have in my classroom this semester. Hannah and I are working together on scheduling friends and acquaintances to come in and discuss their careers, educational background, life experiences, or anything else they really want. Our hope is to simply let our students hear some different perspectives and have their eyes opened to many things.

One of the volunteer teachers in the outer islands had a friend from Missouri come down and visit her. As she returned to the main island, she has been staying with us until her plane leaves Thursday night. She graciously agreed to come talk to our classes about her college experiences, some studying abroad she has done, and a few other travels. She did a really great job, and I am really excited about having this guest speaker series this semester. Let our students get a feel for some different things out there and just hear others talk. My new friend from Missouri had some cool and useful stuff to share with our classes, and she really enjoyed getting the experience although it definitely wore her out standing in front of the class all day. She said she has a new appreciation for teachers. haha

It's a much bigger lesson I can give them than discussing fossils for a day. You may have noticed in my post from last week that I am rather excited about some of the things I am incorporating this semester, and this perspective series is one of them. We have a whole list of people we are talking to, and we already have the next two booked. I even talked to a few of my friends at church on Wednesday night about it, and one who currently teaches at the community college thought this was a great idea.

Since we had our guest joining us Wednesday morning, Hannah and I decided we would wait  and leave a little later than we usually do, which meant missing our regular bus that takes us the whole way. Instead we ended up waiting for a Leone bus to take us halfway and then walk the rest of the way. That meant there were 6 palagi (white people) waiting for the bus. Oye, that's the most palagi I've stood with in public in a while. It felt a little weird to have that many of us on the bus at one time. Then, 4 of us walking down the Tafuna road to school. I sure felt like an outsider. Ran across some teachers I know from Vo Tech, and the one made the joke as we walked by "Look at all the palagi." Now I remember one more reason why I've been graciously joining our regular bus ride in the morning that we take at 6:45am. I don't like being an outsider. I may be palagi, but I am also a member of my community in many ways.

So, yes our Tafuna bus has been kindly waiting for us each morning again. I made sure to tell him we would not be on it Wednesday morning so he didn't sit there and we never showed. Then, when I started walking home on Tuesday afternoon I get asked if I want a ride. Of course, so I cross the street, climb in, and realize it's my morning bus driver. "What are you doing not in your bus?," I ask. haha I got to meet his wife and children, and finally know his name - Pati. I was going to ask him one of these days. He told me about his family and asked me some questions the whole way home. Really nice guy, and I am thankful to have met him and gotten to know him better. We really do appreciate how he waits for us in the morning. Saves us some time and sweat in the morning.
I found it a bit funny and ironic that I was getting a free ride home with the bus driver in his personal vehicle, but it was great. Then, Wednesday afternoon started walking home, when Pati waves me over to his bus. He was making his last round before going home. Favorite bus driver, I do believe :-)

Rainiest Month and a Mighty Fine Monday

So our field director mentioned in our weekly update this week that January is usually the rainiest month of the year. I'd sure say so. haha Rained practically all day again today. Not too hard just rather steady and constant.

I had a really great Monday. Not very often do people come home saying they had a really good day on a Monday. Although I ended up falling asleep later than usual the night before, I woke up energized and ready to go. I currently have this plan to have one day a week where I bring in a rather recent news article dealing with whatever topic we are on in class. I want to read it aloud together, where the students take turns. This will give them practice, we can discuss words as we go, and break the article down. Super smooth sailing today with that. Almost all of my students participated in the reading minus a few classes. I somehow kept most of them on track today without having to give many the teacher look.

After finishing the article, they answered a few comprehension and reflection questions in their notebook for individual accountability. In Earth Science we read an article about how old the Grand Canyon is as we we will be working on the topic of Earth History and the geologic time scale this week. As for Marine Science, we looked at an article about some research going on with using wave and tide energy as a possible alternative energy source. This went pretty well too with the students who were paying attention. Fourth period is still rather loud with it being one of the lunch shifts. Even 6th period was actually pretty quiet today. Last week I could hardly get any of them to focus so made them do everything independently as I wasn't going to waste my time standing in front of them. Some are still choosing not to do a single thing, but today I had some with me which was encouraging. At first I found myself at lunch thinking what a great day I had, but I still had 6th period to go. Finished strong today, though.

Last thing I want to mention in this little post is how I've been giving away a few items of clothes that no longer fit me. Some are just too big and I don't feel comfortable wearing them, so I figured someone should be getting some use out of them. One student took my blue puletasi (the first one I had made on the island), one is now the proud owner of my black and white top, and one will be taking home a white skirt tomorrow. Feels good to help a few of them out and it's a good and unexpected feeling to have so many clothes that are too big for me now. I don't write all of this to make any of you feel self-conscious of yourslves; I only hope that it may help give encouragement to anyone who may need some. If you want to be healthier, I believe in you and know you can do it!

Finished up my day substituting for a class, which meant me just giving them work time today. A few students came up and were chatting with me. They thought my blog was pretty cool. Alright, that's it for now. A great day at school required its own post, so there you have it.

Rainy Days and Food Photographer

Forgot to mention in my last post that we got a ride with this nice guy Steve who has been working on the island for 5 years with NOAA and previously with the National Park. Pretty cool. I also got to ride home from Zumba class this week with Erica's parents. Erica is the instructor that usually gives me a lift home, but she wasn't heading that way and had her dad take me. Loa and Va'a are two very energetic people that chattered the whole way home :-)

Had to hang out at school until 4pm on Friday as report cards had been handed out, so we were asked to stick around in case any parents or students had questions. I had one parent come by and I discovered that one of my students has been scared to ask me questions since I'm palagi (or at least that's what he told his mom). I told her I'd try to work more closely with him and shook both of their hands. Then, the student came back and sat in my room and chatted with me a bit until it was time to go home. Maybe he's not so scared anymore. No reason to be scared of me... most days. haha

The rain has been almost non-stop lately. Quite the rainy mess on the way home Friday. The teachers that head our way were already full or not leaving for a while, so I figured if we got out to the road, someone would pick us up. This gentleman Nick gave us a lift to the shopping center, where we immediately caught a bus and made our way home in the pools of water that had formed that afternoon.

Friday was the pure cardio workout with Insanity, which is pretty intense, but I'm a trooper. Exercise feels so good. One of my students also asked me on Friday what I do when I'm having a bad day. I told him exercise is one thing that can clear my head and put me in a better mood (not that I really ever let myself be in a bad mood altogether).

Rained all day Saturday with little gaps of sunlight. Started out the morning by hitting Sualua's for breakfast. Got on and off the bus before the rain picked up. Had a delightful banana muffin with a side of fruit and iced tea. Grabbed some bananas from one of the growers before catching a rainy bus ride back home, Had some oatmeal and chai tea for lunch at home. Oatmeal sounded really good on this rainy day. For dinner, I had some more oatmeal with a side of cucumber and banana. Yum yum.

Taking this photo of food reminded me how I took so many photos of the food I ate while on my min-vacation. One of my roommates commented that from the looks of my photos on Facebook it seemed like all Hannah and I did was eat on that trip. I told her I'm a wannabe food photographer. haha. You know... maybe take photos for menus, ads, and such. It's sort of fun trying to take the photo from a cool angle or placing things in a certain way on the plate.

Woke up til the continuing rain Sunday morning, but it backed off by the time I went to church and really didn't rain much more at all. One of the messages was a metaphor about farming, which was interesting. Especially since I am from the Midwest. Made a little and fried rice for lunch, and I made enough rice to save some for rice pudding for dinner. Forgot how much I enjoy rice pudding. This is the second time I've made it since I've been living here now. That oatmeal is godo stuff, too. There are so many deliciously healthy things out there to eat. Who needs cookies? haha Okay, I admit I still enjoy cookies, but in moderation :-)

Back to School

I've had a great first week of my second semester as a volunteer teacher in American Samoa. Monday and Tuesday seemed a bit long at first as I was adjusting back to the work day, but it's been nice seeing my students again and thinking about how I want to handle this semester. I stumbled upon some things on the Internet Monday night including a Discovery channel series called "Curiosity," which really got me excited. Science is all about curiosity in my book, so I definitely plan on incorporating this into my classes this semester. I also did some thinking about how to minimize the number of lecture/note-taking sessions I utilize, and I thought about it a bunch on Tuesday. Think I'm going to try to incorporate more articles that we read together and then work on some comprehension and reflection questions maybe once a week. One lecture session, one assignment day, one day where we analyze photographs and incorporate some Spanish, and then one Curiosity day. I also plan on having a few guest speakers come in this semester and go on some field trips. Just have to work out the logistics of those. At least a general idea right now, but I feel rather elated and excited about it right now. Just gotta make it all happen, now :-)

This Monday, I had my students look at a photograph, make some observations, write some questions, and make few hypotheses. This was a nice way to think about the scientific method again. One of the other things I touch back on with our definition of science - my two main focal points. I was rather happy with some of the critical thinking I saw going on. Maybe I did teach these kids a few things last semester. Good feeling.

Tuesday, I asked the students to write about things they learned last semester before we went over their grades and final exams. Nice review day. I also made it clear that their grades start over this semester. While I wars basically happy with grades last semester, where most of my students stayed at C's and above, I hope we can improve this semester. As long as you put the effort in, you can do it.

Wednesday, I gave a lesson on SMART goals and had my students think about things they would like to accomplish within our 5 months together, in or outside of school. I used my goal of completing the Insanity program as an example. Haven't missed a workout yet. I've been a little sore, but I've been sweating up a storm. Doing the Insanity workout after my regular exercise, the Firm on MWF and Zumba on TTh.

Rain picked up Wednesday afternoon, but I was determined to leave right after school so I could make it home in time to exercise, shower, and head to church. One of the Math teachers kindly gave me a ride as he was heading to pick up his kids from elementary school. He didn't want to leave me at a bus stop without a shelter and it worked out that he also picked up his wife from the college, where there is a sheltered bus stop. Then, I caught a bus home, got my workouts in, showered, and was beginning to grab some dinner when Junior called asking if I was coming to church. I looked down and he was already there, "Yeah, be down in a minute." Threw my skirt on, grabbed a granola bar, and off I went. Was really nice to see a bunch of them and chat with them more. Me and the high school kids in the van. haha They're good kids, and I had a fun time in the van. Also a nice message from Pastor Scot that night. I may be tutoring some of them from time to time. I've offered before, so we'll see if they actually take me up on it this time around.

Rained all through the night, and it's raining right now as I write this Thursday morning. Monsoon like rains at times. When we were up in the cafeteria eating breakfast, couldn't even stay dry as the wind picked up and blew rain under the roof. The rain has seemed closer to the door of my classroom than usual, as well. haha Just another day in the South Pacific. Nice cooling off, though, for a bit.

Looks like it's going to rain all day, and I think the NOAA forecast agrees with that. I am showing an episode of Planet Earth today called "Into the Wilderness". It's a really good one that talks about humans taking over the wilderness, the sustainability of our planet, and raises some interesting moral and ethical questions. I've been pointing some of this out to my students as we go while I've been taking notes. I also see some future projects and activities that can relate back to this. Good stuff. Like I said, I'm having a really good week. Lots of ideas stemming, which is nice after the two week break. At first, I thought it might be harder to get myself going again.

Weekend after the Vacation

First, I want to make sure that if you hadn't checked my blog since last Friday, you may want to make sure you scroll down and the read my previous post as well about my mini vacation to some of the other Samoan islands. I talk about some different experiences and things I learned over  there.

Now, onto the new post about a few things I did over the weekend after returning from (Independent) Samoa and before beginning my second semester as a volunteer teacher. Monday morning, here I come!

Friday, Hannah and I headed to Tafuna to run a few errands after sleeping in a bit and then grabbed a bus heading for the blowholes. Now, normally we would have just gotten off the bus at the corner and walked a ways, but luck should have us someone was headed the same way we were and had the bus driver take us farther back. That worked out rather nicely. Ever since I had seen these blowholes down near the airport runway a while back, I knew I wanted to go back some time and told Hannah it was worth seeing. There are holes in the lava rock where ocean water makes its way through and then shoots up and times, making me think of the geysers in Yellowstone National Park (which I hope to see some day).

After sitting there for a little while, we started walking and then caught a ride with this friendly lady Rachelle. Feels good to be back in American Samoa, where catching a little ride is no big deal and enjoyable. What a way to meet people :)

We headed to the Koko Bean for lunch, where we enjoyed some mashed potatoes and string beans. My whole meal only cost me $3.25. Pays to be vegetarian and not order meat sometimes. haha Did a little grocery shopping at the store, where I wanted to pick up some milk. The little store where we live only had full cream on hand, and I much prefer skim milk. I saw chai tea concentrate, and I decided to grab one of those as I hadn't bought one in quite a while, and it sounded like a nice little treatment (and let's be honest - simply a treat), for my little sore throat. Then, I noticed ricemilk on the shelf. Not just ricemilk, but ricemilk that was cheaper than the skim milk I was about to buy! How crazy was that!

Hannah had mentioned rice milk to me a while back as we were discussing vegetarianism and veganism. I said I liked soy milk and almond milk, and she suggested I should try ricemilk when I got the chance as it wasn't as thick. I figured that would be one of the first things I'd buy once I landed in Omaha, NE. Now, here I was in American Samoa with organic ricemilk in front of me. Looks like I didn't have to wait 5 months to try it. Plus, did you hear me say it was cheaper than the skim milk. Unbelievable! So I bought 4 quarts. Put one in the fridge straight away, and tried a glass after it chilled. Yum. Definitely not thick like soy and almond milk, and I did notice the rice part. Oh, I was excited! Really healthy for you, too.

I went on to make myself a chai tea with the rice milk. Mmm did that hit the spot. Good stuff.

A few of my fellow volunteers who teach on one of the outer islands stayed with us a few nights again before heading back out there, and it was fun to exchange stories from break. One went to New Zealand, one to Hawaii, and then there was Hannah and I who had traveled to Samoa. A few of us also made a little walk up Canco hill to enjoy the view from our friends' porch and chat some more.

Saturday morning I awoke, went to Sualua's for french toast with fresh fruit and coffee before heading back to the store to stock up on some more ricemilk while it was there. You never know if more will be replaced on the shelf, so I have a decent supply now. Plus, remember I said it was cheaper than the skim milk I've been buying. Bonus for me on a volunteer's paycheck :-)

Then, I came back home and just had a lay around, read, and relax day. I hadn't really done that over break, yet. A day to just sit at home with not many cares. I worked on some coloring pages in the books my grandparents sent me for Christmas. I even sort of took a little nap. I'm not much of a napper, but it was appropriate on Saturday. Later that afternoon, Hannah brought out the giant gingerbread pals her mom had mailed in a package. They were marked "for Hannah and Jess". Oh boy, looks like we had some fun to have.

 We decorated them and enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes, we almost have too much fun.

Our completed masterpieces. Mine ended up being Tarzan and Hannah's a Samoan in a one piece with painted toe nails.

Of course we had to see how they tasted. My little guy suffered a broken arm on his journey from California, and then I sorta broke his legs by accident; so, I couldn't hold him up in one piece for the photo. Haha. Two crazy kids at heart we are :-) Thanks Hannah's mom for sending us this random and fun activity.

I also did let my brain do a little thinking on Saturday as I was reading "Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card. This author was introduced to me a while back by one of my biology professors lending me "Ender's Game", which she claimed was the greatest sci-fi novel. Good stuff for sure. I was brought back to the series when I visited Luther Seminary by one of the professors there who told me that books later in that series were very theological throughout, and I dived into those my last semester at Morningside. He also suggested reading the parallel series, which "Ender's Shadow" begins. I started reading it a few weeks ago, but then left it at home during my vacation. Well, I finished it by Sunday evening. Great read. I can read fiction and find my brain really engaged. Pretty cool. I'll admit I had some nerdy moments. Reading is one of my hobbies!

Speaking of hobbies. Exercise has become one of my hobbies since the beginning of this school year. Yes, I did just say that. Exercise is one of my hobbies. I found myself missing my workout routine while I was on vacation and it felt really good to start back into it the day I returned. I also found at the end of the semester that I felt like I had been plateauing a bit and needed to change my exercise routine up a bit. I now have my hands on the videos for the Insanity workout program, and a few weeks ago I decided I would officially do the program in addition to some of my regular workouts starting after break. Not really a New Year's resolution, just a challenge for myself and as a girl that enjoys exercise right now, sounds like fun to me :-) "Crazy kid," I'm sure some of you are thinking.

January 7th, say hello to the 9-week Insanity Program. March 9th, I'll see you on the other side. Like I said, it's time to add a bit more to my exercise routine and change it up. Here goes nothing :-) No idea how much weight I've lost, as I am horrible at guessing, but the number doesn't really matter to me. Maybe I'll weigh myself when I come back to Nebraska and maybe I won't. I was content with where I was when I left Nebraska and had no plans of losing weight while in American Samoa, but hey it's working out and feeling good. I've definitely slimmed down and have kept up with exercising. I really do enjoy it. So, in addition to Zumba twice a week, and little workouts at home I will now be joining Shaun T on my computer screen 6 days a week for Insanity.  I even have the Insanity program hung up on my wall so I can cross out the days as I go. I got this :-)

Hope you all have a great week! I'm excited to start up the new semester with my students, incorporate some new things, and hopefully get going with some field trips. The semester will be over before I know it, and I'm going to make the best of every day and do what I can for these students.

That reminds me, one of my students walked into church this morning (this was his first time at our church) and right away had a big smile on his face when he saw me as he said "Miss Boschen!", gave me a little hug, and asked how my Christmas was. Maui was actually the first student that showed up for my first period class on the first day of school. He's a great kid. Made my day :-)

Free Spirited Vacation

Time for the tale of what I did during my week long vacation to other Samoan islands - the nation of Samoa (Independent Samoa). Hope you are all ready for this as I have a lot of ground to cover.

First, I would like to note this was a technology free week for me. I did not take my computer, never once got on the Internet, and my American Samoa cell phone didn't work over there, so it was solely used as a clock at times - but no watch, so time was not much of a constraint on any plans. Hannah and I really didn't have any set plans. The only plan was to do whatever we felt like at any given moment. We had a few things on the list but no order or details - our free spirited vacation and adventure :-)

Last Thursday, Hannah and I loaded up our backpacks and headed to Fagatago where we waited to board Lady Naomi, the ship, to begin our adventure to the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savai'i. Here we are waiting outside the port for boarding for our backpacking adventure.

Our boat left Pago harbor around 4:30pm for the 8 hour journey to the island of Upolu. Upolu is only about 60 miles away from American Samoa, but the boat goes rather slow. We took the boat because (1) it was cheaper and (2) figured it would be a nice adventure. As we were getting on the ship, we met Nikita from New Zealand, whom we ended up sitting and chatting with on the 8 hour tour. If I'm ever in New Zealand I will be looking her up. Nice new friend to have. She has some family in Samoa and was fun to talk to. We all felt queasy at times along the journey. The smell of the burning diesel really did us in and sitting in the stuffy back end of the boat. We took turns going and sitting up along the side for some fresh air.

I also chatted with this 19 year old guy named Aaron for a while. He graduated from one of the private schools in American Samoa and was heading to spend a few weeks with family in Upolu. He was fun totalk with, and I do enjoy meeting new people and hearing their stories. He fell asleep after not too long, and I ended up spending the most time back with our gear. I think I dozed off for a bit a few times, but I found my head being my personal juke box for the trip across the ocean - a lot of the songs I sang in my head were Disney classics. Oh yeah :-)

So we left Pago harbor in American Samoa Thursday afternoon and arrived at Apia Harbor in Upolu around 1:30am Saturday morning. Traveling between American Samoa has one traveling to a different time zone in addition to crossing the International Date Line. It is a day ahead over there. That means we arrived at 1:30am Friday morning American Samoa time. In a two week period I lived through three (not two) Thursdays - kind of weird. haha

A cab took us to the hostel Hannah had booked us for the night - Tatiana's. Only cost us $26USD for the night. The moment we walked into the room and saw the shared facilities I could see my mom saying, "We're leaving." haha. At 2am, it didn't really matter and all we needed was a bed to sleep in. My first hostel experience - check :-) The bed frame had wood slats with this thin foam mattress on top. Felt that one in my back in the morning. haha

 A few funny stories about that short night in the hostel. As Hannah and I were laying there trying to fall asleep, you could hear some screeching in the ceiling above. Rats, perhaps. Wouldn't have surprised either of us. Anyone reaching for their hair yet to check and see if there is a rat there? Are you cringing in disgust? It was an experience. I'd stay there again to save money if all I was doing was crashing for the night and not lounging around, which was exactly our situation that night. Next funny story after laying there for a bit, we both look at each other and realize neither of us is asleep yet, so we decide to shower quick and be productive, which would then save us time when we actually woke up. Hannah and I are both early risers. Also, as it was late, I found myself saying, "I could really go for some Taco Bell right now," which made Hannah laugh. Reality of the moment. Being up later than we wanted and feeling a bit hungry. haha

Woke up around 8am as we predicted, grabbed a little of the complimentary breakfast - bread and bananas, headed to the ATM to take out some Samoan Tala. One US dollar is equal to 2.2 Samoan Tala. They have really bright colored bills. Here's a photo of some of the currency:

We decided the first thing we wanted to do was head to the other island - Savai'i. We made a stop in the Tourism office for some recommendations, and the lady told us about a nice beach fale we could stay at for $65ST (Samoan Tala) each, which included breakfast and dinner. Sounded good to us. We grabbed a bus from the bus station for an hour ride across the island of Upolu (costing $3.20ST each) to grab the ferry to Savai'i. The ferry ticket cost us $12ST each. As we grabbed the first ferry we could, we didn't really have any down time. Went straight from the tourism office to the bus depot, to the wharf, and boarded the ferry right away. We were ready for some lunch after the hour long boat ride to Savai'i. We walked a bit and found us Burger Bill's, where I had some cole slaw and a banana milkshake. Yummy. 

So our stomachs got the better of us, and then we got a little confused as to where we were on the map - silly girls haha, and ended up trying to head the wrong way and missed buses heading to the village of Manase where the beach fale we were looking for was located. Decided we'd just take a taxi, even though it would cost us, as this was a 45 minute drive. We are both happy go lucky girls, so this did not bog us down. We decided that this worked out better than riding another super full bus with our backpacks and all. The bus ride to the ferry was the most full bus I have ever been on. Boy gee whiz. I thought I had been on some full ones in American Samoa, but this one takes the cake. At first I kept thinking about how I miss my super friendly Samoans that frequently offered me rides in this moment, but it all worked out.

We arrived in Manase around 4pm, walked onto the property of Tanu Beach Fales, and were greeted by some of the family who own the place with cocunuts for both of us as they walked us over to an open fale along the shore where we would be spending the night. Here is a photo of us sitting in our beach fale with our coconuts. You drink the coconut water inside and then can eat the fruit. Fresh coconuts are yummy. I've never been much of a coconut girl (in terms of sweets), but this stuff is good).

Our hostess at this family operated spot even catered to my vegetarianism  adding an extra helping of vegetables in place of the meat on my plate. Really kind of her. Nice Samaon sized plate with white rice and cooked veggies. They told us dinner would be at 7:30, but it was more like 9pm by the time it was all ready. We were on Samoan time (joke you'd really get if you lived here as much doesn't start on time. haha) I even got a little swim in the ocean in before cleaning up for dinner. Figured I might as well embrace this being at the ocean thing and I didn't particularly feel like just laying out on the beach - not really my thing.

Sleeping in this beach fale was like camping. Exciting! My first time camping at a beach, and even Hannah's first time spending the night in an open fale. Cool experience. They even provided us with mosquito nets, which you can see here at night. I slept really well and cooled off with the rain that commenced through the evening.

I was looking forward to waking up to the sunrise as I was literally facing the ocean as I slept, but found myself greeted by these nice shades of blue instead. Although I could have slept in a bit more I found myself crawling out of bed to take some photos. This was the perfect time to grab some shots while no one was out swimming yet. Here are two self portraits I took with my self timer that morning:

By the way I was wearing the lavalava that I received from Pastor Scot and his wife for Christmas that day. Looks good, eh? Breakfast was supposed to be around 8:30am and became ready about 9am as we anticipated. A giant plate of fresh coconut, papaya, banana, homemade toast, and a Samoan pancake (thinner like a crepe). Got chatting with these ladies from New Zealand - Mel and Lily. Mel's mom actually lives in Savai'i, and she and her son Rudolf have been living with her temporarily as her mom has been sick. They will be heading back to New Zealand in February. Her cousin Lily came to visit. They were a nice family.

Hannah and I shared some Samoan sized glass bottles of Coca Cola as it began to rain Sunday morning. 750mL each - big bottle. I kept thinking of my Dad and how jealous he would be in this moment. Mmmmmmm. Even though I'm not much of a Coke girl, I do enjoy the real thing in the glass bottle when I get the chance.

Ended up chatting with our new friend Mel for a while and found out that she and Lily were heading toward town that day (Sunday, meaning transportation was minimally available). She offered to give us a lift into town and we happily accepted. Time for a change of scenery. I do appreciate the ocean, but I am not the girl that can just lay on it all day or swim all day. I embraced the experience as much as possible, but I was ready for a little change of scenery.

We made a couple of stops along the way. They had been telling us about this dessert cocktail they had the night before called the chilly chock, so we tried one. It was yummy. Very ice cream and chocolatey. Then, I convinced Lily, Rudolf, and Lily to be in a photo with Hannah and I as we were sitting at this cool little place that served the drink.

 After that we stopped at this fancy resort, where Rudolf wanted some palagi pancakes. The Samoan pancakes are thinner like I mentioned, but at this place they had the thicker ones I'm accustomed to. Just sat and chatted before hitting the road to town. Along the way we asked various questions and learned a lot about the island of Savai'i. Remember Mel's mom lives there. Along the drive we noticed several houses with a horse in the front yard. Turns out they use them on the plantations. A few houses also had a cow out front, which Mel said they often just raise to sell. A lot of the villages had these little village pools, naturally filled by mountain springs; that's pretty cool. I feel so glad to have met these lovely people and will definitely try to meet up with them if I ever find myself in New Zealand one day.

Reached our next destination - the village of Saleloga (the town of Savai'i), where we said our farewells. Mel had recommended the Jet Over Hotel, where we decided to spend the evening. This was our super fancy stay of the visit, but it still only cost us $75ST each for the night. Check out the pool view - I'm pretty sure this is where you people think I live and work every day. haha. Not quite. Many use the word "paradise", but this locale is not "paradise" in my mind. Definitely an enjoyable spot. We even had air conditioning. I slept in A/C, everyone! One night! We cranked that thing up and slept under the light covers all night. Was as nice refresher after 5.5 months. Can definitely live without A/C no problem, as I have for quite some time, but the air was nice. Our 5 star hotel night, if you please. haha

Decided we should really get crazy and chill at the pool like true 5 star hotel residents would and share a pitcher of pina coladas. Funny thing the menu actually said jug not pitcher. haha Good deal, though. One of the little island activities we figured we should embrace while on this beautiful island for vacation. A nice relaxing evening - well all of our nights were nice and relaxing, now that I think about it. :-) Hannah and I have so many random conversations - talking about everything under the sun. Some nights we'd even dive into round 2,3, or 8 of conversation topics after we had laid down for bed. I felt like giggly girl at a slumber party on those nights. hahaha

After waking up from our A/C and warm soft bed slumber, we grabbed a bus that would take us to the road where a little waterfall was (also recommended to us by our new friend Mel). I was chatting with a few guys on the bus to make sure we got off in the right spot, and they proceeded to pull the string for us and said our farewells as we began walking down the little road. Nice little spot. Hannah wanted to make sure I got some nice nature - mountain experiences in, as she knows I'm more of a mountain girl than an ocean girl. I was exuberant simply walking down the little trail. In addition to the main waterfall, there were several smaller ones circling this freshwater pool, which was nice. Had we been there toward the end of the day, I probably would have swam in it a bit enjoying the freshwater (I'm not the biggest fan of the feel of saltwater on my skin). Really glad we made this little trip, though, before heading back to the capital city of Apia on the island of Upolu. This is one of those spots where I could sit all day. Still like my Nu'uuli Falls better back in American Samoa. Nu'uuli Falls is officially one of my favorite places.

 

This guy saw us walking and asked where we were going, and we told him we were trying to catch a bus. He showed us where this little bus stop was and said to wait there. We waited for a bus at this little bus stop for quite a while and the few that came by were already full. After a while we decided this wasn't going to work out and should grab a cab. The guy, Falili - flagged us down a cab so our journey could continue. Made a stop at the Savai'i marketplace, where we grabbed some bread and bananas for lunch and perused a bit at the produce selection. They also had some handicrafts, but we were going to be doing all of that shopping back in Apia.

Headed back to the Jet Over Hotel to grab our bags, got a shuttle lift to the wharf, and then headed over on the 2pm ferry back to island of Upolu. Here's a photo of the ferry and the island of Savai'i in the background. Savai'i was a nice place and had the beautiful beaches I had heard about.

Got on the bus right away to take us back to Apia, where we wondered around a bit with our backpacks sweating it up trying to find a different place to stay. Knew we had the option of Tatian'as again but wanted to try something different.  Ended up at Hotel Elisa, where budget rooms were available in the back for only $65ST a night. Sounded good to us and was accessible to the main parts of Apia we wanted to walk around over the next few days. This place had a normal hotel up front with a restaurant and all, but we stayed back in the hostel area. Not gonna lie as we were led to the back end of the building we crossed through some hallways where I know some people would make the joke, "Is this the place where they're gonna kill us?" One creepy hallway for sure up and down different sets of stairs. What an adventure. haha Here's a picture of our cute little hostel room.

Amid our wondering, we saw a nice looking place for food that advertised sub sandwiches on their special for the day including a vegeterian one. We decided to walk to this place - Cappuccino Vineyard - for dinner. Here's my vegetarian sub. Yummmm yummm yum. I was simply expecting vegetables on the bun, but this chef went above my expectations with this little vegetable pancake like thing that was the meat substitute. You can see that on the left side of the sandwich. It was absolutely delicious. I'm going to see if I can find a recipe for something like that. It was so good.

One nice thing about being in a city is having some cosmopolitan like places to eat and chill at. That is one thing Hannah and I did quite a lot of while we were staying in Apia. Plus, many of the places we ate at had vegetarian options, so I wasn't just eating salads all the time. haha I do love a good green salad, but it is fun to play with some of these other vegetarian meals, I must admit. When I am back to cooking my own food, definitely have some more ideas to play around with, although most of the time I am very content with just eating my fresh fruits and vegetables.

We also found a grocery store that happened to be open where we found a few little treats a quick. This is New Years Eve that we are out and about, I should mention, and here were our celebratory drinks. I had a nice sarsaparilla, and Hannah has a thing for soda water. Funny little pull tab on the top of my sarsaparilla bottle, and it hit the spot.

We ended up over at the bar/restaurant of a neighboring hotel - Aminaki, where we split a bowl of ice cream and a Shirley Temple. This table next to us bought us each another Shirley Temple. Free Shirley Temples! haha We also noticed this menu had some nice looking vegetarian options, so we had plans to try and stop in there for lunch or dinner some time. The service was great, as well.

Woke up to some rain Tuesday morning. Quite the rain, too. I would almost use the word monsoon like. haha We ate the rest of the bread that I had boughten back a the marketplace in Savai'i for breakfast, and then ended up sitting on the patio of the hotel for a while waiting for this monsoon like rain to pass. By monsoon, I mainly just mean heavier rain with some stronger winds - all short-lived, of course. Just another day in Samoa.

After it let up, we walked this little peninsula, which had some nice little government and historical things to check out - all right up Hannah's alley. I do enjoy these type of things, as well. Nice little walk, saw a few tombs, the parliament house, and some nice wall paintings like these Samoa flags all along this little peninsula.

Stopped in another little hotel restaurant for lunch, Hotel Millenia, where I had a green salad. Our plan was to try to get to this EcoLodge back toward the mountains outside of Apia on Tuesday, so we grabbed a cab, made it to the bottom of the hill to find the gate lock. The cab driver called the number to find they were closed. Alrighty then. People take holidays seriously over in Samoa, I tell you what. We also noticed that not only was January 1st a holiday... so was January 2nd, so we had a feeling we would be staying in Apia again doing whatever we could with limited options of what was open. This cab driver was really nice. He's from New Zealand, had a kiwi accent, and his name was Ralph. He also has a Samoan name as his family is Samoan, but he gave us a nice little tour of Apia as we returned back to Hotel Elisa for the night. Not many other options.

Took a little nap in the afternoon. I'm not much of a nap taker, but I tried to enjoy it and give it a shot. Got a little one in before I was ready to get up and go somewhere. Ended up at this little gas station with a nice convenient store. We picked up some apples and oranges to have for breakfast the next couple of days. Good find as they were really nice pieces of fruit. Also noticed this little station had some delicious looking soft serve ice cream. You bet I put that on the list of things to do while we were staying here :-) I love me some ice cream.

The bar/restaurant in our hotel opened back up at 4:30, and we went down there to have a drink. How often do I just go have a drink, and by drink I mean a soda each. haha We're cheap, what can I say. Anyways, we just sit, slowly sip on our drinks, lounge, and chat. Hannah is the slowest drinker and eater ever when she wants to be. It was fun to joke about because she knows it and has always been like that. I slowed down with her, but many I still ended up finishing my Sprite way before she finished her Coke. Whoops, but then before I knew it, another hour and a half had already passed. When we get talking, time just flies by.

Then, we hopped back over to Amanaki for dinner. Excited to try one of their veggie options. Here it is - a plate of mixed cooked veggies with a side of garlic bread made on Italian loaf. All for only $10ST. What a great deal and delicious dinner. I even ate super slow just like Hannah, one bit ate a time, setting the fork down, and small sips of water every now and then. Dining became a whole event - more than I've ever experienced before.

We also split some fresh fruit and ice cream for dessert. Delightful :-)

We walked over to the ocean and sat for a bit, and I literally mean only a little bit. You could hear this creaking noise, and saw that it was an old boat lurching in the corner. Creeeeepy. haha Decided we had enough of creepville and headed back to our room for the night.

Had some of our apples and oranges for breakfast. Yum yum. Made our way over to the shipping office trying to confirm that our boat was leaving Thursday night not Wednesday night for some unforeseen reason. Wednesday was a holiday, but our people at the hotel weren't quite sure when the boat was leaving, and to be safe we headed to find out. The shipping office was closed as expected, although it looked like somebody might be in there. Walked down to the port, where the guys at the gate had no idea when the boat was leaving and said we'd have to check with the office. Back to the office we went, because were going to find out exactly when that boat was leaving if it was the last thing we ever did. haha Started messing with the gate, when this guy finally comes out, who was able to answer our question. Thursday at 11:30pm was departure for the Lady Naomi from Apia to Pago Pago. Thank you, kindly.

We popped into the flea market area for a little look see as there were some stands open. Saw some stuff we were interested in, but were going to wait until Thursday when more was open before getting anything. Walked back to hotel to extend our stay for one more night before heading for some lunch. Ate at another nice little cosmopolitan place - The Bean. Oh. My Goodness. They had Chai Tea Lattes on the drink menu, and I saw they were serving the lattes and such in large coffe mugs - not just a takeout cup. Yes, please, I'll take one of those. Look at how delicious and pretty it looks. Not the best chai latte, I've ever had, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy every single drop of it. Mmmmm. Lip licking good.

 They had some toasted sandwiches on the menu for $9ST each, and I had one with cream sweet corn, tomatoes, and cheese. Not too bad. I've never tried corn on a sandwich before, but it was good. You can pretty much put anything on a sandwich. I was contemplating pineapple instead of corn for a while, but I'm glad I tried something different and went for the corn.

Next stop... Baha'i Temple. Baha'i... what is that you say? It is a religion. Oh boy was I excited to see this. You all should be aware that I graduated with a minor in Religious Studies at Morningside College, and I remember learning a bit about the Baha'i faith. I knew that it was a combination of various world religions. Actually rather interesting if you're into reading about different world religions.

Got us a cab to the temple grounds and right as we walked in, I felt like I had entered a different world. "Hannah, I don't think we're in Samoa anymore." haha Beautiful landscaping, botanical garden, and pathways. Just.... Wow. It reminded Hannah a lot of Asia, one of her favorite places that she has traveled.

Spent some time inside their information center, first. I knew there weren't many Baha'i temples in the world, and it turns out there are only eight total. I have now been to one of those eight. The information said that they have only built a few, with each representing large geographical areas. Read about the history of the faith in Samoa, the beliefs and practices, and lots of other cool stuff. The Baha'i faith is very ecumenical  welcoming, non-proselytizing, and progressive in its ideals, although I haven't quite read enough yet to see how exactly the beliefs are put into practice. I was super stoked about being here, though. I could have easily spent the whole day there. Really cool for many reasons. Glad I got to see this :-)

Here is the temple itself. Each one around the world is uniquely designed but has nine walls and nine doorways so all people from all areas and ends can enter.

Here is a look inside the house of worship. They have service once every Sunday, where the read and sing straight from all of the holy scriptures from the various world religions. There is no preacher or sermon, just a body of people worshipping together. The temple is open 24/7, though, for meditation and prayer.

When we first walked in the door, here was this table with a lineup of books - the various holy texts of the different world religions that Baha'i combines. Really cool for me, a religious studies minor, to see this lineup of books. I had a moment, I must admit. Soooo cool. Just look how beautiful these books all look lined up like that. I also thought the reflections on the table looked nice in the photograph. One of my favorite parts of this trip was seeing the Baha'i Temple. I enjoyed every minute, but there are always a few moments that stick out in one's mind.

 We started walking back down the hill toward Apia as we really didn't have a way to call a cab, and walking is good for us. A nice guy offered us a ride and took us down a ways. His timing was pretty good as there was a large group of dogs at this one house that was giving us some flack. One major difference about being in Samoa vs. the American Samoa I have come to know is the lack of dogs all over the streets. We saw very few dogs, and the ones that we did see all looked well fed. They never really barked at us. This was our first encounter with dogs that wanted to chase us down since we had left American Samoa.

Then, we walked some more and found ourselves caught in some rain. Ducked under a bus stop and sat on the bench. Not the driest place, but it was better than nothing. It was lined up with a speed bump, so cars had to slow down to pass by us, which ended up getting us way too many looks. We decided to move, and ran under the overhang of this little store. The guy in the house next door Bill came out, offered us some chairs to sit on, and chatted with us a bit.

We saw a taxi and decided to grab it, as we were unsure as to how much longer the rain would last. Took little naps again. Well, maybe I should say Hannah sort of took a nap, I just laid there, and then decided we should move again. My brilliant idea - go try some of that yummy looking soft serve ice cream we saw at the gas station we could walk to in 10 minutes. The rain had let up, so we went.

Brilliant idea, did I say? Oh, yes... indeed, it was. This tasted like homemade ice cream we make back home. I ate it rather slowly (even slower than Hannah), and found myself thinking of some nice memories back home that included homemade ice cream. One of my favorite things in the whole world. Definitely will have to invest in an ice cream maker when I settle down somewhere. Sweet bliss :-) It was also kind of fun to just sit outside the gas station and enjoy them. Felt very small town to me, rather than a big city activity.

Then, we decided on a little repeat of our night activities from the previous evening for our New Year's Day plans. Started down in the bar/restaurant of our hotel - the Beachcomber, where Hannah had a soda and I tried a coffee. Fancy looking coffee. I could hear him grinding the beans fresh. Doesn't it look nice? A little strong, but still went down well. It also came with this cute little spoon for me to stir in the milk. Reminded me of my baby spoon back home. Yes, I do still have a baby spoon somewhere. I also found myself playing around with my camera taking nonsensical fun little artistic photos of my coffee and the silverware. Made Hannah laugh, especially when I said, "This is what I do when I'm bored," meaning this is one of my hobbies, little quirks. She knows this, which is why she did not take a single photo on the trip. It's not really her thing, and she knows I love doing it.

Moved on to Aminaki after our drink at the Beachcomber. Hannah and I both had the veggie mix that night, ate it slow, enjoyed it all, indulged in more conversation, and topped it off with a new dessert. We tried some banana fritters with ice cream. Oh boy were these little things delicious. Another recipe I may try to look up and attempt on my own. Another delightful dining experience.

Now we left Aminaki this night while there was still some light out so we could go check out the creepy boat from the night before in the daylight. There it is, the thing that was making some creaky noises, that sent Hannah and I running for the hills. hahaha You will also note all the trees in the water. This is some of the hurricane damage from cyclone Evan that hit a few weeks ago. There were several trees down in Apia and leading up toward the mountains.

Finished our evening by doing a little money crunching to make sure we had enough but also didn't have too much, as we didn't want to take any Samoan tala home after our weeklong visit there. We use the U.S. dollar in American Samoa.

Had some apples for breakfast on our last morning in Apia before stopping at the ATM to do our little shopping we had been looking forward to. Places were finally open after this whole January 2nd holiday business in addition to January 1st. Oye. haha It all worked out, though.

We grabbed a bus and got off at the gigantic Mormon temple. Yes, gigantic. Much larger than the temples I see in American Samoa, but it was cool to see. Religious Studies minor right here :-)

Then, we walked down the road looking for this little shop Hannah had read about in the Lonely Planet, which sounded like a place worth checking out. Made one little stop in Frederick's Snaks (yes, it was spelled without a C, in case you were wondering), because I thought it looked nice, and grabbed a nice little biscuit we split. Walking along the road, when ahead of us a giant pack of dogs go after a taxi. Ummm... don't want to be walking that way anymore, but we knew we were getting close to the store. A really nice lady offered us a ride and even turned around to drop us off at the Plantation House, where we were headed. Very thankful for her kindness even though she wasn't quite sure where the place was, but she asked someone at a store we passed.

Lots of cute little things in this store, and the owner was very friendly. She asked us all sorts of questions about the program we work with and how we ended up in American Samoa. I'm glad we stopped in before leaving the island. Caught a bus back to the main part of Apia, where we decided on a few fruit smoothies at Cappuccino Vineyard. Doesn't this photo just scream city to you? It sure does for me, anyways.

Lunch was simply not in the cards for us Thursday. Nothing too appealing on the menu at Cappuccino Vineyard that day without paying more than we wanted, plus our smoothies had satisfied our tummies for the time being. Thought we'd try the Bean again, to find they were out of a lot of things. Like I said, lunch just wasn't in the cards. Oh well, not really hungry always  Plus, we had plans for an Italian eatery for dinner. Oh... I just realized I've been saying dinner instead of supper. Sorry to everyone who gets confused by that. At home we we always say breakfast, dinner, and supper Here (just like when I was in college), I say breakfast, lunch, and dinner. haha

Did our shopping for the afternoon. Looked at some clothes, jewelry, and other handicrafts. What girl doesn't enjoy a little shopping trip? haha Then, we meandered back to our hotel, where we sat in the lobby for a while before I suggested we go grab some more of that delicious soft serve ice cream at the gas station. There we go. Brilliant idea, yet again. I made this one last even longer than the day before. Mmm mmm mmm. We also picked up a few glass bottles of Coke - palagi-sized this time, not the giant Samoan-sized ones. Took those back to the hotel patio to enjoy. Here's a cute little photo Hannah had the idea for, and then I added my photographic eye to frame it well. I quite enjoy this photo :-)

Cheers to our last glass bottle Coca Cola for a while and cheers to a splendid free spirited vacation. We sat and looked back at a lot of our sightseeing, random moments, our cosmopolitan dining, and twists along the way.

 Grabbed our bags and took a taxi to Giordano's for some good ole Italian wood stove cooked pizza. Started with some garlic bread and an iced tea. Iced tea! Iced tea! Why am I shouting? Because this was the first time iced tea was on any menu while we had been in Samoa. Oh how I missed it. Iced tea is my favorite thing to get when Hannah and I go out for little lunches in American Samoa. Hannah said my face lit up when my tall glass of iced tea arrived. She also got to enjoy another soda water. Back to the main event though, starting with some scrumptious garlic bread pizza before splitting a margharita pizza - pizza with tomato sauce, mozerella cheese, and basil. Simple and scrumptious. Also a cute little place with great service. A place with character, which I really enjoy.

After dinner, we hung out down by the ocean for a couple of hours, shared some Oreos, and then waited at the port for a couple of hours before boarding our boat back to Pago harbor. Camped out on the deck up front right away where we knew we could catch a breeze and try to sleep. After a while, I slept a solid three hours before waking up once, fell back asleep for another hour and a half, and then awoke for good. I could see Tutuila, then - the island I live on. Put a smile on my face. After a fun adventure, I was still ready to be back home. Actually saw a group of dolphins swimming around 5am when I woke up, which was cool. Haven't seen any out like that since I was in the Galapagos Islands.

Here is Hannah and I sitting up on the deck of the boat after the 8 hour journey back home across the ocean.

After grabbing some mail from the post office, we hopped over to Matai restaurant for our favorite short stack of pancakes with a giant glass of iced tea. We had been talking about doing this the entire time we were on vacation. Definitely good like we remembered.

We crawl onto one of our Aiga buses and headed for Pava'ia'i. Found myself smiling as the music on the bus was playing, I had the beautiful mountains on my right and the cool ocean on my left, heading for my third home right here in American Samoa. Newman Grove is my first, Morningside is my second, and now American Samoa is my third home. Got on sent an email to my parents saying I made it back, showered, and pass out on my mattress on the floor in the rainforest. On my second Thursday that week. Remember I came back across the International Date line. We left Thursday night, and arrived Thursday morning. Time travel. haha After I found some energy, I got a workout in. I actually found myself looking forward to my sweaty workout on Thursday. I missed them. Exercising has sort of become one of my hobbies, and boy did it feel good. Back to working out every day :-)

Hope you all enjoy with this gigantic post. A lot of different little things I did while on my mini vacation to some of the other Samoan islands while on holiday from school. I had a nice trip, learned new things, and made some great memories with my friend and roommate Hannah. Glad we got to go :-)