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 :-)

Christmas in American Samoa

This post will catch you up on all the things my Christmas in American Samoa entailed this year. 

Thursday night after Zumba class I attended the Tafuna High School Christmas Concert. They have beautiful voices, and it was beginning to feel more and more like Christmastime. This photo below shows just the concert choir. The swing choir also performed. Some songs together and some separate. Started around 7:30, and then I think we headed home around 10. This nice gentleman offered us a ride home and we had a nice conversation in the truck. One thing that is fun about living here is talking with so many people as I ride with them.

Friday night I was picked up by a few friends from church for singing practice as they asked me to sing one special for the Christmas service on Sunday. After my practice I played with Jeffrey and Jenna (Pastor Scot and Katie's kids). This was also a way of me keeping these two occupied while their mom practiced her song. Jeffrey and I built a robot first.

Then, he asked me to build him and his sister. There they are :-)

After practice we all went and ate dinner together around 7:30, which was fun before heading home. We then had our mid-service meeting for WorldTeach on Saturday, where we had time to catch up with some of other volunteers we hadn't seen since we moved here, share experiences, and reflect on our time here. The day was over before I knew it. A few of the volunteers who are living on the outer islands stayed at our apartment for a few days, and it was nice catching up with them and hanging out.

Hannah joined me at church on Sunday. Began with a little breakfast and fellowship before the little Sunday School lesson before the Christmas service. The Christmas service consisted of Christmas hymns intertwined with the Christmas story from scripture. I was so excited as this is what we do back home. Some hymns were sang together as a congregation and some were specials. I sang "O Come O Come, Emmanuel" - the verses solo, and the chorus with my friends Siuila and Lillian. Was a nice service.

I Skyped with my parents and brother in the afternoon for our traditional immediate family exchanging of gifts. I had mailed some home and they sent some here. It was fun to do our regular thing, even though I was on a computer screen. Even though I've grown up with technology it's still kind of crazy to me how we can do things like that, but it's great.

Then, we went back for the evening service as we knew there was to be a candle lighting. Had regular Sunday night service and then we all stood in a circle around the church, lit candles, and sang "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful". Finished with a some goodies and fellowship time before heading home for the night. Good day with some home traditions.

On Christmas Eve we met up with some of the volunteers who have been living on the outer islands, one of our friends who works at another school, one that works at the hospital for coffee at the Koko Bean. Had some nice conversation and enjoyed each other's company. Boy was LaFou Center ever busy. We could tell on our way in that it might be so as cars were backed up on the road for a while. Busy place complete with a gift wrapping section. LaFou is like the little mall if you're going to call anything a mall here. haha

Next, headed into town to check the mail. I had two packages and a handful of cards :-) All from friends and family. Even though this was my first Christmas away from home I still felt all the love and what is really important. Happy Holidays to all my family and friends! I received a Christmas gift from Granny B, which I ended up opening later that day while she watched on Skype. I also received a Christmas package from my good friend Karena. She sent me a bunch of Husker gear to remind me of good ole Nebraska - home :-) Then cards from various friends making my day.

Quite the long bus ride home from town as traffic was backed up pretty much the whole way. Last minute shoppers. Oye. Made it home and got to Skype into the Boschen family Christmas gathering for a bit. My cousin Seth was also unable to make it back home this year, and he is currently living in Houston, TX. Both of us Skyped in for part of the conversation time with the Boschen family. Was nice to see everyone and pop in for a bit. They had already come home from church and ate dinner. Good timing before they started exchanging gifts.

Pastor Scot and Miss Katie invited Hannah and I over for Christmas Eve dinner with them and the two kids Monday night. Super nice of them, and it seemed like they really enjoyed having company over. They did mention that none of the Samoans from the church really ever just come over for dinner. Really delicious food. Kudos to Miss Katie, we had fun chats (much like I would back home with my family) and got to play with Jeffrey (age 4) and Jenna (age 2). We also talked a lot about Samoa, where Hannah and I are headed tomorrow for a little trip. They even gave us each a little gift - some lavalavas from Samoa. Guess what I'm wearing my first day walking around the island over there? It was nice to sit down have a nice family dinner and enjoy each others' company for a few hours. Very nice of them to invite us over, and I am glad we went. I even volunteered to babysit the kids some time, and I have a feeling they are going to take me up on that offer some day.

Christmas Day morning, we relaxed and just chatted some in the morning before Tai picked us up to head over for Christmas lunch with our Samoan family. Remember how Hannah and I got a ride with Segi (the lady with 18 dogs), who invited us over for Sunday lunch with her family and then invited us over for Christmas. Here we are. So much food, but lots of good classic stuff including potato salad and pasta salad. Tasi, Louisa, an the family did a fantastic job. This family is a lot of fun and I practically feel at home with them. We ate, talked, made jokes, teased one another, sat around the couches, and laughed a lot. A fun afternoon. Tasi and Luisa gave us a gift, a little artwork that one of Louisa's friends works on. They are nice little square canvases. It's sitting in my bedroom now, and will one day have a home on a wall.

Here's the family photo. We have Lolo, Segi, Tye, Anthony, Tasi, Lucky, and Ioanne. Louisa, Nina, and Tai are not in the picture. Everyone who was here I had met last time we joined them for lunch except Tye. He is currently going to school in Oklahoma and playing football there but came home for the Holidays. One great family, and I feel very fortunate to have met them and be welcomed to their family gatherings. Can't wait to join them again.

Hannah and I watched the Santa Clause that night, ate some Christmas popcorn her grandma sent, and just chatted like we always do before calling it a night. Woke up Wednesday morning where I packed up for my trip to Samoa (the Independent country) and cleaned the apartment before making homemade macaroni and cheese for lunch. We are taking the ferry, which leaves at 4pm Thursday afternoon local time and will return in about a week. I will write a post on my return telling you about all my adventures over there. Happy Holidays everyone! Manuia le Kerisimasi ma le Tasauga Fou.

Staff Christmas Party

All public schools released at noon on Friday, so a half day just like the radio announcement said. This meant 25-30 minute periods. We actually had all 7 periods. The first time we've had a short day and still had all classes rather than just dropping the last ones. I like this idea better. That gave Hannah and I time to run to town to purchase our tickets for the ferry to Independent Samoa for a weeklong visit over Winter Break after Christmas. Just $65 for a round trip.

Got a ride home with one of our co-workers, which was nice. Exercised for 70 minutes before showering, relaxing, and putting on my blue dress for the staff Christmas party. Funny story, somehow all four of us volunteer teachers at Tafuna dressed up in some shade of blue that night. Looking good.

Our friend and co-worker Pepe did us the honor of picking us up for the party which was being held at the Country Club in the village of Ili'ili. I've been there before. It's a nice place with live music, pool tables, and dancing. Pepe's friend Liana also came along, and I know her from Zumba. She came with Pepe for a while. They are both really fun, and the ride over there was full of laughs between all 6 of us piled in Pepe's car. This is me with Pepe and Liana.

Before dinner was served a few holiday games took place. They asked for some volunteers, and I went up. We had to try to draw a Christmas tree on a paper plate on top of our heads. My fellow volunteer Josh won that round. He won a case of butterscotch toffee with chocolate and almonds, which were interesting.

Some trivia questions about Christmas was another little game. I named all 9 of Santa's reindeer and received a big tin of Danish cookies. Yum. Then, there were some dance-offs. When I heard them say Gangnam Style was one of the songs, I thought I might as well go up for that one. We dance to it in Zumba all the time, so I could do a little advertising for Zumba class and represent the few of us Tafuna staff that go to the classes regularly. It was fun. I ended up winning that dance-off. I'm sure some of you are thinking "Jessica got up and participated in a dance competition? What madness is this?" My best friends all know I love to dance (although maybe not always the greatest, but dancing is all about having fun.) I have learned a thing or two from Zumba, and I'm sure those of you who follow my blog have seen I attend those classes regularly. I decided to give you all a little snippet of the dance that won me a bottle of sparkling cider :-)

Another dance-off commenced where they asked a representative from each department to come out. I was the only science teacher I could see around at the time, and I figured why not. Ended up winning that one, too. Maybe just because I am a palagi, one of the volunteers, or was enjoying myself. Who knows. I received another tin of Danish cookies for that and a $5 bill. Gave one of the tins to my friend Pepe. It was fun, and I'm sure some of them weren't expecting to see me get up there. Got high fives from all of my Zumba friends and others at the gathering.

We had the option of iced tea or lemonade with dinner free of charge, and I went for some good ole ice tea. They ended up setting a pitcher in front of me, which was pretty exciting. I had a total of 5 glasses, I do believe. Good stuff :-)

Here are my prizes I brought home from the fun night.

Then we just hung around, danced, chatted, enjoyed each others' company, and had a good time. Successful staff Christmas party. Only a few staff members reached the point of ridiculousness through the course of the night.

Cyclone Days

Been an interesting past couple of days with a cyclone in the South Pacific. Cyclone=hurricane. They use different terms in different oceans. After Zumba class Tuesday night, the instructors said "we'll see you Thursday, just watch out for that cyclone." What on Earth were they talking about I wondered. Arrived at school Wednesday morning in the rain to find out we were not having school. Teachers were asked to secure their rooms and then were free to go as a cyclone was on its way. Securing our rooms included shutting all the windows, taking personal items, making sure textbooks were under cover, and moving all desks to one area. The public schools are shelter sites, so we had to clear space in the room in case. 

They all told us to be safe as we headed for home. Got a ride with one of our fellow teachers to the main road, and he dropped us off by the little shopping area and asked if we had supplies like water and canned food. Well, the store didn't open until 9 so we decided to chill in the coffe shop for 20 minutes  I had been wanting to head this way one of these days for a nice Chai latte anyway so it worked out. 

Grabbed some bread, extra peanut butter, and a few canned goods. I haven't eaten peanut butter sandwiches in a while :-) Then, waited for the bus in front of the hardware store. Lots of people loading up plywood. Wednesday's weather in American Samoa mostly consisted of rain for a few minutes with rather strong winds with calm minutes with sunshine in between. Was rather fascinating. My first cyclone day. My bedroom window even got boarded up. The land family took care of all the windows around the premises. At that point Wednesday afternoon, hurricane strength winds were forecasted to hit American Samoa by Thursday morning.

Here's what the radar looked like at that point. American Samoa is the pebble sized island toward the right of the big red splotch that was currently passing Independent Samoa. 

The DOE made an announcement on the radio Wednesday night around 9:30pm canceling school for Thursday, and by the looks of the forecast at that time I would have to. As I went to sleep at 10:30pm the forecast read as follows:

Tonight: Occasional showers...locally heavy at times. Isolated thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 70s. Northwest winds 45 to 60 mph with gusts to 70 mph increasing to 60 to 70 mph with gusts to 85 mph overnight.

Thursday: Heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70s. Hurricane force winds 75 to 95 mph with gusts to 120 mph increasing to 85 to 110 mph with gusts to 130 mph before noon.

I was expecting to wake up middle of the night to strong winds and not really sleep much. Next thing I knew it was 3am and calm as could be outside. Huh. Woke up again at 6:30 to find the same thing. Boy weather sure can change quickly. The cyclone warning had been cleared for American Samoa but high surf and flash flood advisories and warnings remained in effect. The cyclone stalled for a while by Independent Samoa had taken a turn and was circling back around the other side of that island. The capital city of Apia got hit with some of the worst so far. You can see some photos here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-13/an-samoa-cyclone-gallery/4426816

The cyclone is supposed to be making its way toward the island of Fiji. Well, two cyclone days for our island but no actual hit. Keeping those in Samoa in my prayers. Have only read about a few reported fatalities, but there is some reconstruction to be done; that's for sure. Otherwise, just rained off and on here Thursday afternoon and evening, which is pretty typical weather here. So that's my story of my first cyclone days. Instead of a snow day this year, I got to experience a cyclone day.

An announcement was already put out that Friday students are dismissed after lunch for who knows what reason. Welcome to island life. haha Guess we'll see if we really need to stick around, if not Hannah and I are gonna catch a bus into town and pick up our boat tickets for our little week-long holiday break trip to some of the other Samoan islands.

On a different note. I meant to mention in my post about eating with Segi's family that I learned tha there is corn grown on this island. I mean we had eaten corn on the cob some days at school, but for some reason I assumed it all came from somewhere else. Nope, they grow some here. I needed some new produce so I walked to a stand a short walk from my apartment. Scored with some corn on the cob ($1 for 5 ears), cucumber ($1 for 3 long ones), and yellow banans ($1 for 5). After my second workout for the day (as I got a bonus one in with the whole day off), I decided all I wanted was some this scrumptious plate from my produce score. I love locally grown fresh produce! Threw in a slice of bread, and if I do say so myself this picture looks just about as delicious as my little dinner really was. Now to make that corn one of these days. It's always been good any time I've had some on island so far- at school, at the church Thanksgiving dinner, and at Segi's.

From Christmas Spirit to Coral Sperm and Lots of Great Stuff In Between

One of my little friends at church, Noelle, had given me this cute little hair piece a few weeks ago. I had told he I thought it was pretty, and she said I could have this one because she had like 5 at home as they had made them at VBS. I finally wore it to church as I thought it went nicely with my outfit that night - shades of purple. On the way back home saw one house decked out in Christmas lights. One of the first I've seen, although I guess that's probably because I'm usually not on the road at night. You know... since the buses stop running at 6pm and we don't have a car and all.

One of the girls that work on things every morning in my classroom before school and often during lunch drew me a nice "Merry Christmas" on the chalkboard. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Minus the snow and cold weather, of course. haha I did find myself thinking about how there are a lot of people who don't have white Christmases throughout the world. I may not be shivering but I can feel the spirit of Christmas around me - the important part :-)

I found a nice quote one day this week that I really enjoy. 1) It was said by Captain Jack Sparrow - one of my favorite characters. 2) It's a nice summary of a concept many people struggle to grasp. If you read my previous post, you would have seen that I dealt with some behavior issues Monday and Tuesday, but did you really get my spin on it. The situation is what you make of it, and this quote made me smile when I ran across it this week :-)

I found myself doing a little doodling during some work time one day that I gave the students. I'm not very artistic as practically knows - especially my students, but this is one little thing I've doodled many times over the years. This little flower vase. What do you think? No Picasso, but not too shabby either. haha

I even branched out a bit and tried something a little different. I was a bit impressed with the dimension I added in this one. Check out the corner of the wall back there. The table is a little rough looking, but oh well.

This week at Zumba I found myself taking note of all the people around me. The Zumba classes I attended back in the States were at college, and it was some students and staff - women all the time except a few occasions. Here, I Zumba with some other teachers, some administrators  older Americans, working girls my age, Samoan ladies of the generation above me, some kids, football players who show up for fun in the back some times,  some little Asian ladies, big firemen, an older Filipino man, and one guy with a really long beard. Then you have our great instructors - a pretty feminine guy and a girl with some nice biceps. What a fun group with lots of energy!

Thursday and Friday flew by and after a workout, Hannah and I sat down and enjoyed a few movies together with some chocolate and wine. Girls night for sure! We watched Mean Girls first, and then She's the Man. We had fun making comments on the extreme girl world and the guy world. These two movies definitely complement each other well. Random, but it was a good night.

Saturday morning I woke up at stinking 5:45am on the money even though I told myself I would just wake up when I woke up. My circadian clock sure is on top of its schedule. 5:45am is when my alarm goes off during the school week. haha. I woke up and did a little reading before heading West where I planned to relax in the sun for a few hours in a little secluded spot I had all to myself. Here she be :-)

I picked this spot as I knew it was off the path where no one ele would likely be, and I could work on that island tan a little bit that everyone expects me to come home with. haha I also knew there would be a nice breeze right here, and it actually felt cool at just the right times :-) Just relaxed and did a little reading. I am currently reading a book about a guy who moved to a highly remote island in the Pacific and talks about his two years spent there. Interesting so far. Our Field Director had mentioned it at Orientation, and one of my roommates got a hold of a copy.

I had enough of the laying around and decided I felt like climbing around on the lava rocks a bit. As I made it to the top of one, I noticed a nice little tide pool down below and decided I'd head down that way. Beautiful little thing with some nice coral and fish.

I decided to jump in a few times and played around with the timer on my camera. I found a custom timer setting where I can also tell it to take a burst of photos - like 3 in a row. Pretty cool. I didn't quite get one of my jumping in, but here's one of my not so Olympic medal winning splash. haha

What a nice little spot though and really easy to get to. Samoans just don't head past this one point at Sliding Rock much. I'll be heading back, even though I'm not a big fan of the feel of salt water. Lots of saltwater up my nose after my jumps into this little pool, but it was still refreshing in its way. A nice serene location :-)

Then, I met up with Hannah for lunch in Nu'uuli. I decided I wanted to order the mac and cheese off of the kids menu. Wasn't really feeling like a salad, and it was a cheaper option - bonus. Hahaha I'm laughing already before I even write the next part of this story. Are you ready? I was getting anxious for my nice little plate of mac and cheese to come out to find my eyes widen and take a double look as it appeared that I had just been served some Easy Mac in a restaurant. Haha Oh boy. It took Hannah and I a little while to stop laughing. Not what I was expecting, not that Easy Mac is bad... but in a restaurant? hahahahaha is all I have to say. Not going to be ordering that again there any time soon - although it was a large bowl and I do like Easy Mac, but I was really looking forward to some homemade stuff. Guess I'll just have to make my own one of these days :-)

We walked down to Lion's Park after that to sit in some shade, chill, and chat a bit. We discussed some politics, which was fun. Not one of the first things you'll catch me talking about but enjoyable, nonetheless. After a while there we started walking toward Tafuna, made a stop at the bank, and then decided we could use a little cool off in some A/C and thought about chilling in McDonald's or KFC for a bit. McDonalds wasn't quite so cool Saturday, so we moved down to KFC which really worked as you will see. Sat there and chatted for a while enjoying a little drink, and we found ourselves discussing the dogs on the island and a few experiences we hadn't quite accomplished yet, one being a to'onai - the big Sunday family lunch.

Finally decide it's about that time we head home and stood at the road and stuck out the hitchhiker thumb in hopes of a ride home. Two vehicles later a vehicle pulled over, and first thing she says is sorry about the dog hair. I bring my dogs with me to work during the week. Right away, I thought "Oh boy, what are the odds considering what Hannah and I were just discussing?" We talked about how the dog situation here is kind of sad - lots of dogs, lots of sickly looking dogs, no spade or neutering, and some vicious ones. So, she takes her dogs to work. Wait, it gets better. She has 17 dogs at home. 17! hahaha She has them all fixed, and she is actually trying to do some education on the island on the issue. Her name is Segi, by the way. Make sure you pronounce that "g" like it has an "n" in front of it :-)

She has a cocoa plantation in her backyard working some guys who are stationed in Utah and wanted to plant some here. She also does a lot of fundraising for breast cancer, as she was a survivor herself. She is currently 57 years old but a very active lady. She was really cool to meet. She proceeded to invite us over for lunch with her family on Sunday - the to'onai. Another one of the things we had just been discussing at KFC. Yes, please! She said she would come pick us up at noon and take us to her niece's house.

Came home to a package from my grandparents and mom that one of my roommates brought from the post office. I was excited, as I knew what a few of the goodies were. I decided to put the Grandma Wingert Christmas cookies in the freezer and pull them out later as I still have some of the sugar cookies that arrived last week. Plus, my mom's chocolate oatmeal bars I asked for were in this box as well. Oh, and some almond bark pretzels. I was actually thinking about those a few days ago, so they were a pleasant surprise.

I decided on an hour long workout - one I'm a little sore from on Sunday as I tried a different one. R remember I had my mom send the set of DVDs I had so I could change it up. Felt good, though. After my shower, I filled up a glass of milk and enjoyed one of my scrumptious chocolate oatmeal bars. Mmmm. Another nice taste of home :-)

I fell asleep out on the porch Saturday night, woke up at 2 and moved inside. Next thing I know it is 5:30, but I said nope you are going back to sleep. Didn't wake up til about 7:10 - that's better :-) Started out my day with a few hours chatting with one of my good friends from college, Shalimar. She is currently working with Americorps in Berkely, CA. We've been emailing back and forth, but it was nice to sit and chat for a while about all sorts of things. Right at noon a vehicle pulls up, and it is Segi's niece Luisa here to get us. The dinner was behind held at her house, and Segi was busy cooking. What a beautiful and enjoyable dinner. Conversation went in so many different directions, which I really enjoy. Almost felt like I was back home, with the mashed potatoes (I LOVE mashed potatoes), corn on the cob, three discussions going on at once at the table, and good times had by all.

Luisa's husband Tasi works as the attorney for the governor here, and he attended school in the States. Nina, another of Segi's nieces, grew up in Maine and recently moved down to American Samoa. They were all welcoming and fun to talk with. We've been invited to join them any time we like and even on Christmas day for dinner. So nice of them. I'm really glad we decided to sit in KFC ofor a bit on Saturday, stuck out that hitchhiker thumb, and ended up getting this ride with Segi - where it all started. Definitely will be going back now and then for some to'onai, conversation, and laughs :-)

Alright, I sure hope you are all ready for this. This has got to be the closest I am ever going to get to being on Food Factor or one of those crazy eating shows. One Samoan tradition is going out to the reef after full moons in October and November to collect these worms that live in the coral, collect the sperm, and then eat it. They call it palolo. When we first heard about this, we thought we have to try that while we are here, but then the opportunities didn't really come. I asked around a bit, but it seemed like it was something more people did in the outer islands. I almost thought this opportunity had passed. Low and behold, here on the table at Luisa's was a bowl of palolo. My face lit up as we were getting the chance to try this stuff. Tasi even commented that this is the caviar of Samoa. Here you are my family and friends, my hand with the little piece of bread with a scoop of some coral sperm that entered my mouth. Tasted a little squishy (Hannah used the word fishy), but I didn't think it was highly weird or anything. Not much taste, but it's really cool to now say that I've done it! Eat authentic coral sperm in Samoa... Check :-)

Another nice weekend for the books with some little adventures, going with it, and being in the righ place at the right time :-)

From Rain to Sunshine

From Rain to Sunshine... This post will lead you from Dreary Monday to Terrific Tuesday and all that was in between.

What a Monday. Dreary Monday to its fullest meaning. Woke up to a cloudy rainy morning, still wasn't feeling the greatest, and a headache that was distracting. Usually my sinus headaches are simply annoying and don't affect much I do throughout the day, but boy did it Monday morning. Switched my lesson plan as I couldn't think well that morning. Could just tell I wasn't feeling so hot at lunch time. As for lunch itself - wasn't much for me to eat Monday. The homemade pizza was a bit weird and dripping in meat, but I ate some of the crust with my huge helping of applesauce. They were out of corn, so I had crust and applesauce. Delicious. haha I mean I'm perfeclty okay with a huge helping of applesauce - healthy and fulfilling, just odd, and then seemingly lucky only one more class to go for the day.

Oh, but the wrong class to have left, I tell you what. haha Darn that 6th period, sometimes. Had a few students I had to chat with afterwards after trying to make it clear that their behavior was unacceptable in my classroom. Apologies all around and we left on good terms. I like to end things that way and not leave it badly for the next day. Some of them just don't seem to care on days, which makes it harder to want to stand up and share cool stuff with them. Continuing with my dreary Monday, but don't worry it has a happy ending :-)

I left right after school, speed walking down the road, stopped at a store for some more tea bags, and then caught a bus right away to go home. Then, I make it home feeling sick to my stomach. Think my system was simply out of whack. Ended up chatting a bit with some of my girls back in Nebraska online, which was a nice surprise. Then, I decided to just lay in my bed for the night, watched Harry Potter, and drifted off to sleep around 8:30pm without the fan running mind you as there was actually a little breeze with the rain. Ahhhhhhh :-) Oh, and I also put together a new Zumba outfit before heading to bed Monday night. You shall read more about that at the end of this post. I was pretty proud of it.

Anyways... As I awoke 3 minutes before my alarm sounded Tuesday morning, I realized I did not remember waking up once through the night. How bizarre, but a fantastic feeling. I needed it, and I felt eons better on Tuesday. I immediately could tell how much more energized I was, and you could see it in my lesson for the day. Felt good to be back at it swinging strong. Some different players in the "drive Miss Boschen crazy game" during 6th period game today. Even after we just revisited the classroom expectations. Oh well, Tuesday was a terrific day.

A singing group from Independent Samoa was currently on island touring around, and they made a stop at Tafuna High School for a little PR and fun during our 7th period. Sure felt like I was a ta Justin Bieber concert or something when these guys walked on stage an the girls started screaming. haha. Oye. The championship football and volleyball teams were also recognized at this assembly full of song and dance. May have been the most singing I've witnessed at a single school assembly yet, I'd say.

4th period and 2nd period were FANTASTIC. We accomplished a lot and had a great time doing it. It's invigorating as an educator to have a class that's engaged, paying attention, being respectful, and allowing you to be yourself in front of them. Plus, not  having to give anyone the teacher eyes). This ought to make you laugh.

1st period, I had one student sit here, then think he was just going to walk out. I don't know what goes through their heads sometimes, especially as this wasn't the first time this has happened. Like I'm not going to notice. I found it interesting on this particular day as he had just asked me why he lost points the day before, and I told him it was for being late. Obviously I know he's here, and I followed him out after I got the others started. Found him sitting with a group of boys around the corner, including another of my students. Back to class boys, and all of you should be in 1st period right now. Us? Yes, or I'm taking you to the office. They all scattered. Well... that was fun :-)

Then, first period thinks they don't need to pay attention as we are revisiting the classroom expectations. Alright, who wants to get up here and try teaching? I had one student thinking he was going to be smart and do it. Got up there, and I sat down acting just like all of them. How did we feel about that? Low and behold they all were on much better behavior after that. Fun little twist in my day. I'm telling you, no matter how many bad moments may happen throughout the day I don't let anything get to me, and I drink in the good moments. I watch others struggle with this concept day in and day out. You can have a good day if you yourself make the decision to have a good day no matter what. 

Boy, I think this post is much more invigorating then the last one. Must be because I'm feeling so much better today. Now to just finish flushing that cold out of my system. Wrote this up Tuesday after school before heading to Zumba, where I am wearing my newest Zumba outfit. Black capris with little blue design on the side (courtesy of the clearance bargain my mom found) topped with a white t-shirt I cut and tied on the sides. If you ever see Zuma instructors, you will understand why I am calling this a Zumba outfit. For your viewing enjoyment... haha

Various Thoughts and Occurrences

I want to start off this post by commenting on the little book exchange I've got going on with my students. This is why I brought books into my room to sit on the shelf, for any of them to borrow as they wish. Even though one ended up getting ripped, I taped it ip; one of my students borrowed a  few a week ago, and every other day she comes in and tells me how much she's enjoying reading them. Another student picked up another one today, and I think I mentioned this last week that a student actually brought in a few books to add to the little pile I have here. Reading is fun, and I'm glad some of them are enjoying the books I've had sitting here. Our own little book exchange :-)

As you may have noticed in my last post, I've been doing a lot of reading myself lately. Finished another book on Tuesday. I sometimes forget how easily I can get lost in a book not wanting to put it down. Such a good feeling. The book I finished on Tuesday was the second in a trilogy, and the third one does not get released until March 2013. I'll be itching for that date. I was actually introduced to this autor Cassandra Clare by one of my awesome professors of Religious Studies at Morningside. I've read all of the books in her first series minus the one that will be released March 2014 and have enjoyed the prequel series, as well. Good stuff if you're into sci-fi, fantasy, a little romance drama, action, and some good vs. bad. I started another book that had been sent from home, and I finished it Friday afternoon. I posted a photo of my new books on Facebook and made the comment that I finished another one and maybe should slow down, but.... nah :-)

There may be times where I only have one post for the week rather than two, and this is one of those weeks. I hope those of you who are still reading enjoy what I write. I sort of just write this like it's my journal, where I'm not necessarily creative in my writing. Just write what I'm thinking. I know some friends have told me it that it sounds like me when they read it, and that's how I like it. All Jessica Boschen :-)

I've been a little under the weather this week, which I felt coming on last Sunday. Stuffy head, little runny nose, and some congested coughing to boot. haha Man, this is the fourth time I've caught something like this since I've been down here. Maybe the climate really doesn't like me :-) Oh well, doesn't dampen my spirits. I think the rain dampens me enough, literally. haha Fighting off a little influenza isn't new to me, of course. This did lead me to give lessons that were much more student driven with independent work time. Not worth me to stand up and lose my voice.

Turns out, the students can actually handle independent work time well. I made a list of tasks on the board, and most of them just went at it. They must be used to this in their other classes. So I ended up letting them go with this style of learning for the rest of the week. I felt significantly better on Friday after feeling a bit sluggish the previous three days.

The students didn't have to come to school on Wednesday as we teachers were attending a DOE conference about the new Common Core standards that will be implemented next year. A few educators from the States were here giving presentations, and they did have some interesting things to say. We volunteer teachers found that these other teachers here behave like our students do in the classroom, in a sense. For example, at the end of the presentations they ask if any one has any questions. "Nooooo," was the response. Listening to the Tafuna teachers around me, it sounded just like the students in my classroom. I can't quite explain it, other than I almost felt like it was my students sitting around me. All four of us volunteer teachers at Tafuna looked at each other and grinned when this happened.

At the end of the conference we were filling out some evaluations, and one of the questions asked what one thing is that would really help with the learning in your classroom. I noticed some wrote more resources or a projector. I love my projector! It has made a world of difference in my classroom, allowing me to use more visuals during instruction; yet, I did not find myself writing down more resources like some around me. Yes, resources are great, but we can always make do with what we have. I have found that you can have a great classroom with limited resources. One thing that you need is a classroom that has common sense and basic respect. This has been improving in my classroom, but something I keep coming back to as a new educator. I'm looking forward to having discussions with friends and family back home when I return on this subject. It will be interesting to look back over the whole year. Right now, as the semester is approaching I have found myself doing a little checkpoint study of my time here.

The Internet was out in my classroom both Thursday and Friday, but I'm getting more used to not being around technology 24/7. I even forgot my cell phone at home on Thursday, but I don't really use that thing much here anyway. You would think that after a whole day away from the Internet that it would be the first thing I did when I got home, log on and check if there's anything I missed. Well, not quite the first thing I did when I came home. After Zumba class, came home with Erica, drank a glass of lemonade, showered, ate a little, and then found myself checking my computer real quick. Saw my friend Ryan was online and wanted to ask him about his new job, and then he asked if I wanted to Skype with him and Sarah quick. That was fun. I haven't Skyped with either of them in a while, so that was nice before reading a little and hitting the hay. My week days are pretty routine now - get up early, school, exercise, eat, read, and go to bed. Don't forget church Wednesday nights, then the weekend is whatever I feel like at the time, usually some exercise, church, reading, conversation, and little adventures.

Speaking of church. We've been singing Christmas songs lately. Some even started before Thanksgiving, which I usually frown upon. haha Anyways, all are the traditional ones I'm used to singing at Christmas Eve service every year, so good feelings of home :-) When we sing "Angels We Have Heard on High", I smile inside as I feel my mouth making that perfect O shape, the one you see in clip art of carolers all the time. Learned one new one I was not accustomed to called "In the Cave". Getting in the Christmas spirit, even though it's not cooling down outside.

Went to church Sunday morning to find Christmas decorations up.

Jenna, the Pastor's daughter came and sat with Hannah and I for a while.

Hannah came along with me to watch our little special and filmed it for me. Here's a clip for you. This is the 2nd verse and chorus for "Without Him". I sang soprano - part of the harmony.

Here's our singing group: Richard, Lillian, and Miss Heidi.

Since I had the camera figured I'd get some photos with my different church friends, and I was wearing one of my Samoan puletasis. Here I am with the Tongan boys. They're my van buddies: Junior, Paia, and William.

I was having a discussion with Pastor Scot on the way home from church Wednesday night about some politics. I had been wondering how the electricity on this island came from, and I learned that it comes from big diesel generators. Wow. I've never heard of that one before. Very interesting. So, the electricity price fluctuates with the price of diesel. He also told me that there was a shortage when the tsunami hit in 2009.

Eyeglasses... One of my roommates and I have been discussing eyeglasses lately. I have my reading glasses here, and I've been a good girl using them when I sit and read my books. She needs a new prescription, so we were asking around where to go. We've taken note that not many people on this island really have glasses or contacts for that matter. Several of our students might struggle with classwork because they simply struggle to see the text and board, and we know some of them did as they recently got their hands on some glasses. There may be a need for access to eyeglasses here. Huh. Something I've been pondering lately.

Friday night we attended the Teacher of the Year banquet on island, as our group was invited by the Teacher Quality division of the Department of Education. Very nice ordeal. We were served Samoan size platters of food. We each had our own PLATTER. Check it out. Oye.

Obviously way too much food for us palagi. One of our fellow teachers at Tafuna won the Territorial Teacher of the Year Award, so we got to take ulas up to him given to us by our principal. Ulas are like leis. Here's a picture of one that we all were presented with when we arrived to the event at the auditorium in Utulei. When the awards were announced, different people walk up with these ulas and place them on the winners. It's a cultural thing here. Stacked up to their foreheads at some points. haha It was fun to get to take one up though.

Here is one of the table centerpieces that they let us take home to have on our table for a while.

The four of us volunteers who teach at Tafuna got a photo with our principal and one of the VPs, as we were all dressed up at this formal event.

These are some of my fellow volunteers on the island.

This is my Field Director through WorldTeach.

 This is Jessica from Iowa who went to Creighton in Omaha.

Here is Hannah, my awesome roommate.

Left the apartment around 7am Saturday morning with Hannah headed to our new favorite spot - Suala's Restaurant for some breakfast and hanging out in the air conditioning for a few hours before meeting up with the volunteers in town at the post office. Oatmeal sounded good as I still felt a little sick but significantly better. The side of fruit really brought it all home for me - hit the spot :-)

I had a package, Hannah had 2, and one of our other roommates had 2, so we were standing there with a stack of 5 boxes. Some of the boys I know from church happened to be there and they offered to take our packages and drop them off at our place later so we could enjoy ourselves in town for a bit rather than getting straight on the bus. Very nice of them. This led us toward the ocean, where we ran into another volunteer, sat, and chatted for a while. Then, off to the public library, where I read through parts of a book about choosing good foods to eat - natural ones, not processed. Took me a while to pick a book to flip through.

Hannah noticed a bunch of kids in the children's area, and we went to see what they were doing. Ended up helping some of them with their little Christmas lantern project. Found out they have these little youth activities ever Saturday morning. May stop in some more to help out from time to time. Here is one of the girls I was helping - Ulina.

After we came home from church, got to open the care package that came in Saturday. Lots of little surprises. There are some Christmas presents from my parents, brother, and aunt I am not opening until closer to that time - some maybe even Christmas day. Some of Grandma Wingert's sugar cookies! Also, a jar of bread and butter pickles from Grandma and Grandpa Wingert. Thanks for sending something for my vegetarian diet. Love these things :-) I never imagined I'd get so many packages while here, but they are a lot of fun. I've heard there may be a few more on the way, too. Mail is fun, no matter what it is - unless it's bills and ads, of course. haha