Made it to the Baptist BBQ, enjoyed my veggie burger with toppings and sides of pickles, grapes, and apples. Larry was all worried he didn't cook my burger properly as he hadn't ever used that brand before. Pefectly done, sir :-)
One Samoan lady brought some potato salad, and it was delicious! A different recipe than I'm used to. Didn't taste like any egg or mustard. There are also some macaroni noodles in there. Yummy. I told her how I really enjoyed it.
Nice little two hour social gathering in Happy Valley (the name of the area). Ethan and Larry gave Dan, Melanie, and I a ride into town as Melanie and I were spending the night at the Samoana house. Larry kindly dropped me off at the fales in Utulei where I watched the last few performances and sat with Aunty Tai again. She gave me a ride to Dan's, as she knew right where it was. Mike and Jess that live in Fagaitua were also staying, and we all chatted a while and watched She's the Man - a great Amanda Bynes movie that I've watched about 3 times now in the last month. haha Went to bed around 11:30pm, which is the latest I've been up in a while. Slept pretty well, though, back on a foam mattress on the floor for the night. Luckily with the rain, the dogs sorta hid out for the night. Last time I stayed here, I hardly slept thanks to the fighting dogs all night. They are rather obnoxious at this house.
Woke up for good a little after 6am when I received Hannah's message that she was almost to town. We grabbed some German buns from the store (5 for $1), and enjoyed those as our little breakfast sitting under a fale watching some of the fautasi racers load into their boats and head for the start line. German buns are little buns (almost donut like) that have some jelly inside of them. Didn't have many options for a little breakfast, but these didk the trick. Asked some girls we saw wearing some fautasi team support shirts where we should stand to watch the race, and they suggested Fagatago. Headed over that way where Dan and Melanie met up with us. There were 6 of these long boats in the race - fautasis. This is a big traditional race that takes place, and the winning team receives a $15,000 prize. I was too far away to really get any decent shots, but you can sort of see one of the boats here. All the guys are wearing yellow shirts - the Pago Pago team that finished 2nd. Was not quite as exciting as I pictured, but we weren't exactly at the finis line either. The day after my landlord said it was a really good start, otherwise not too horribly exciting either. Still cool to see, though. I don't see things like this every day. It's where they all have to row in unison and slide back as they do it.
The teams came from different villages, so we would see people drive by like this showing their support for their vilallage team. Nu'uuli actually had two different boats, but it is a rather large village. As we were walking along the road, I heard "Hey Jess!" yelled from on top of a hill. I looked, and saw it was some of those brothers that sang to me on my birthday over 8 months ago. I see them on the road from time to time, and I always get a big wave and a "Jess!"
Lots of red, white, and blue all across the island for Flag Day. Happy 113 years, American Samoa. Flag Day is the day that American Samoa became a U.S. territory.
Then, we began walking back toward Utuelei to maybe grab some coffee at Matai before heading toward the stadium back in Tafuna (30 minute drive from Utulei). I saw all these NPS vehicles including the boat and figured why not take a photo with them for fun.
Then, Hannah and I continue walking and I decide I want to head up that little hill where I saw the brothers and say hello. I only ever see them on the road, and it would be nice to actually chat a bit. Their mom was even up there. Turned out the first brother I ended up chatting with I hadn't even met yet, but he knew exactly who I was as the guys call out to me every time they drive by. "It's Jess." The older brother I just met - Richard. He played college football in Kansas for a bit until he injured his knee. Then, I got to chat with Christopher a bit - one who was actually in the back of the truck that night that sang to me. The other two were Nicholas and Daniel, but didn't see them on Wednesday. Christopher greeted me with a hug, and then I met his girlfriend. They also had a palagi friend up there - Nyaz, and she suggested we ride along with them back into town. Awesome! Got to ride in the back of a little pickup with the wind blowing through my hair.
Off to the stadium we went minus three of the girls. More Flag Day celebration was taking place here, including an ava ceremony, some speeches, a march, and village song and dance perforamances (siva ma pese). Got there just as the National Anthem was being played by a little boy on his violin. Pretty cool. Here, you can see some different JROTC and Boy Scout groups on the field as the flags are being saluted. They do the U.S. national anthem followed by a Samoan anthem.
We went and took some seats on the far side of the stadium, as it was much less crowded. I may not have been watching things from the front, but it was still a great experience.
This is a picture of Richard Manila and Nyaz Adison - my two new friends. Richard - the college-age Manila brother, and Nyaz - a senior that has been living in Am Sam for the past 13 years while her dad with his degree in anthropology teaches at the community college. It was great talking with both of them. Still funny how they just kept saying, "It's Jess." Nyaz also kept saying how cool I was, as we discussed a bunch of different things. Both pretty cool people. So glad I walked up and said hey to the guys. Ended up enjoying portions of Flag Day with some of my palagi and Samoan friends :-)
During the march, groups paraded around the stadium including a few floats. I thought this one was pretty cute with the little Samoan fale in front.
Here's a photo with Christopher and one of the other friends I just met that day. I didn't catch his name, but he knew who I was. He goes to one of the smaller schools here - Pacific Horizons, along with Nyaz. The Manila boys go to Marist. Once again, super glad they yelled down at me, I went up there and chatted a bit, and we ended up hanging out a bit for the day. Christopher went home after a little while, but Richard and Nyaz stayed til about 12:30pm.
It was so IMPRESSIVE to see these large groups of people from one village in their outfits performing dance and song together (siva ma pese). Seriously, wow. A cool experience. Each one included some narrating (where their voices could be heard - some mentioned some political things - according to my friends who were translating a bit), choreographed performances, and then a sitting portion with more singing. Each group was out there for around 45 minutes.
After watching part of the first group, Melanie, Dan, Hannah, and I went to grab some lunch at Deluxe Cafe, a few minutes walk from the stadium. Richard and Nyaz had headed home by this point. I just love the paintings in this cafe. On the left, you can see a beautiful one of this island. Melanie and I split a grilled cheese and some fries, as neither of us was super hungry. Hit the spot, though, and there was good lunch conversation as we sat there.
My three remaining companions all headed home at this point, but I wanted to head back to the stadium. This may be the only time I get to partake in American Samoa Flag Day, so I wanted to check out as much as possible. When I made it back, the Manu'a group was out performing. Manu'a includes the three outer islands - Tau, Ofu, and Olosega. A bit more remote out that way.
As I was walking back to my seat, one of my students called my name. Got a picture with Naomi, one of my great seniors. She is part of the Swains Island families. Swains is even more remote, and no one actually lives out there full-time anymore. I also ran into Dalen, who was one of my guest speakers from NOAA last week. His family owns Swains Island, as I learned last week.
I enjoyed a little snack. Tried something new - butter machi. Tasted a little like tapioca and was spongy. Yummy, though :-)
It was so cool to see people of all ages participating in these big village performances from the elders to the small children and all in between.
Swains Island put on my favorite performance of the day. Not sure if it was because I recognized more people in this group (although, I did notice at least one in each group I watched), or if it was simply different. So cool, though. I was smiling the entire time. As they entered, the guys along the sides looked like they were slowly rowing. Then, everyone whipped out their white pipes and did some dancing with those. Some running around, singing, and all sorts of cool stuff. I took some videos from behind, so when I'm back home I can share some of these with you if you are interested. I am no videographer, though.
Something just powerful, unique, and fun about their performance. So, who all did I recognize in this performance, you may wonder. Quite the array of people - one of my student, one student that was part of the dance from my day as Fiona, a friend from Zumba, Dalen - NOAA who is planning on playing football at NYU this year, a friend of the Manila boys I had just met earlier that day - Rocko, one of the head guys of the DOE, and one of the school bus drivers that has taken me home before. Quite the array, like I said. I wish I was better at giving this performance justice in words. Also, it was simply super cool to witness all these traditional performances. Once again, reminded of the roots of where I am currently living. May sound like a long day sitting in bleachers for hours watching dances with singing you don't understand, but the day was over before I knew it.
I waited til the end of the Swains performance, and then I figured I should start heading home. I was getting tired. Started walking down the road and after I rounded the corner, a few ladies offered to take me home. They both teach here on the island, one at a private school and one at Tafuna elementary. They both graduated from the high school I teach at and their uncle teaches in my department. They actually turned around from the direction they were heading to take me home. I was very grateful. I had waited like 10 minutes for a bus, but one had not come by my way yet, but I was tired and ready to fall over on my bed. haha. They were both super nice, too. I remember one's name was Christine. Great meeting them.
Made it home, had myself a little dinner, and spent a little time catching up on e-mails from the past few days before trying to fall asleep. Took me longer than I expected since I was so tired. I enjoyed my first American Samoan Flag day, spending it with some of my palagi and Samoan friends :-)
Yawned pretty much the whole way through my Insanity Cardio Recovery workout Thursday morning, but then was off to school for another pretty decent day followed by Zumba, some dinner, and writing up this blog post. I'm sure I probably forgot to mention something worth mentioning, but I hope it conveys some of the culture I witnessed on this holiday. Enjoy your weekend!
Sounds like a fun event. Love the colorful photos!!!! They are wonderful photos as usual. I always enjoy hearing about your awesome adventures....love you!
ReplyDelete