A whale's tail and other island-y news

This past Friday was Veteran’s Day. We didn’t have school, so while I was exhilarated (vocab word, yeah!) to have a day off, I had a busy day planned. Abby, Amber, and I spent the morning at the stadium watching the Veteran’s Day memorial. People spoke (including the governor of the island), our amazing, AMAZING swing choir performed, the Faga’itua HS Swing Choir performed, and the schools with JROTC programs stood on the field and paraded around at the finish.

While most of the ceremony was in Samoan, hearing the swing choir perform the Star Spangled Banner really made it all worth it. Being miles and miles away from the USA, it was nice to hear a song, in English, that I know and love. Hearing Samoans sing is truly a take-your-breath-away kind of thing and I get to hear my students sing every day…lucky me!

The swing choir massaged each other before they warmed up. First they massaged each others backs (a few crept down to the butt area...it was really funny), then they karate chopped each other's backs, then they massaged their own heads, and their throats. It was...interesting.

As soon as the JROTC students got onto the football field, a torrential downpour started and didn’t really stop for the entire time (about an hour) that they stood there. I felt so bad for them! It was cold rain and being in their uniforms, standing, for such a long time must have been so uncomfortable. But, they did it and they looked great!



Leone High School JROTC cadets/officers/etc...pre-rain. They look so dapper in their uniforms!

 Swing choir and the JROTC parade on the track

 Check out those puddles!

 An 'aiga bus ended the parade. All the buses are decorated in some way, or they are painted really wild colors. I love it.

In other news, the one and only president Obama was here today. Not really sure why or what he did while here, but he was here. You would think he might take a day and take a tour of the island on an ‘aiga bus…I mean, come on, it’s the best thing to do!

I tried guava for the first time this afternoon. It was delicious! My afternoon snack is always fruit. Besides guava, I also ate an orange and some mango. Gotta love life on an island.

Now for the best story ever! On the run with the running club yesterday, we decided to head over toward the ocean. Right as the water came into view, I said to the two boys, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we saw whales right now?” The water was a perfect shade of blue, it was calm, and the sun was shining. One boy commented that he has seen whales here, but he mainly sees dolphins. The other one commented that he has never seen a whale before! I commented that the only whales I have seen were in Western Samoa and I only saw their spouts. [This conversation probably took less than a minute.] An ‘aiga bus went by and right after, I looked up and HOLY SMOKES, WHALES! I am not even kidding. There were two (what I assume were humpback) whales right near the coast, probably swimming right along the reef break. All three of us freaked out. I yelled. They yelled. We were amazed…how crazy is it to say “Oh, I wish we could see whales!” and BOOM, there they are. It was bizarre. The whales slowly swam away, but they came up out of the water so we saw their backs as their spouts shot water up in the air. One whale even flipped his tail. I cannot even tell you how exciting it was! The whole run back to school we kept saying to each other, “WE JUST SAW WHALES!!!” What a life, what a life.

Malo!