Only in AmSam...

...do chickens actually cross the road.

...do boys wear "skirts". As you know by now, the traditional wear for a girl and woman is the puletasi (the fitted top and the longer sarong type skirt called a lava lava). For a boy and man, the traditional wear is an i'e (ee'ay) which is a shorter version of the lava lava that buckles around the waist. They then wear a button up shirt on top. I think that guys in the U.S. should start wearing "skirts" - I find it to be a very attractive look.

This is one of my closest friends here. His name is Mavaega (Mah-vah-eng-ah) and he is adorable in every way. Seeing him is usually the highlight of my day. He lives right behind our house so he's always calling out my name to come out and play. He also loves to sing and I often hear him singing to himself. I snapped this photo of him before he left for school one morning. He is wearing his school's uniform, but also the traditional wear for a man and boy.

...is it normal for stray dogs to run on to the field during the football games. Just this past Friday in our game against Tafuna, three different dogs ran onto the field as the game was going on. If this were to happen in the USA, people would go crazy...people don't even seem to notice here. I did see one of our boys scare one dog away, which made me laugh really hard because it was just so crazy!

...have I gained a respect for R&B and Rap music. That's all they listen to in AmSam, but instead of the normal songs, they turn them into reggae and techno remixes. I've said this before but I'll say it again: riding the 'aiga buses is one of my favorite things to do. There is honestly nothing better than getting on a bus with open windows and reggae/rap/island music blasting out of the speakers. Yesterday I heard a Samoan remix of "I've got a feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas...only this version was in Samoan. It was sooo good.

 This video is the song that made all the WTers truly fall in love with AmSam music. Like Justin Bieber? I swear that after listening to this song, you'll never go back to the Biebs again. All this little Samoan kid did was change "baby" to "teine" and he had a top hit. Teine means pretty little girl in Samoan.

...do I turn into a Mom.  This past football game, several Leone kids on the varsity team got hurt to the point where the trainers and coaches all had to rush out on the field. It wasn't until about five minutes after the first injury did I realize that I had been sitting completely still with my eyes wide open and my heart beating five million miles an hour staring at the injured player. The game had continued on, but my eyes had been glued on the kid - "Was he one of mine? Is he okay?" HA! I'm such a Mom now! Most of my favorites (shhh don't tell the other kids!) are on the varsity team and I love them. If they were to get hurt really bad I would feel awful!

...do kids walk around with quarters in their ears. The first time I saw a student with a quarter in his ear, I thought it was a hearing aid. Nope, it was just 25 cents chillin' in his ear. Why? The kids don't have pockets in their uniforms to carry around their bus fare (students only pay a quarter) so they put it in their ears. HAHAHA. How hilarious is that? Now it's completely normal for me to see most of my students with their ears full of change.