I'm baaaack!

Long time no blog! I’ve got about 5 million things to catch you all up on and I’m a little overwhelmed with my “must blog about this” list. I will first explain why I haven’t posted anything in over a week. Last Friday night (as in a week ago), around 11:30, I was fast asleep when a totally random, scary, crazy loud thunderstorm popped up out of nowhere. I thought my heart was gonna fly out of my chest. For the next 15-20 minutes, we had on and off thunder and lightning (which was striking extremely close to our house). I kept falling asleep between each thunder crash and every time I woke up, I would be clenching my pillow and my body was dripping with sweat. It had been a while since I had heard a storm. The point of this story is that 1) thunder and lightning is pretty rare here. It rains all the freakin’ time but we never have an actual storm 2) the lightning fried the internet modem…hence the reason why I haven’t been around. Either way, I’m glad I got to experience a thunderstorm in American Samoa. As frightening as it was, it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.  We have had several more thunderclaps since then but I haven’t seen any more lightning. As long as I’m talking about the weather, I might as well add that the rainy season has definitely arrived. Holy Rain. Sometimes it will pour all day long. Other days it will rain on and off and produce the most steamy, awful humidity that I have ever felt. All I hear anymore is, “Miss. It’s so hot.” “Miss. Relax.” (When they say relax, they literally want to just relax because it’s so hot.) I don’t blame them. Teaching in humidity is extremely hard. My face and body is turning into a river with all this sweat. I can’t even wear my hair down anymore. Too HOT!

Alright, now let’s bump back to Spirit Week again. Wednesday was Prom Day. Students came to school in prom dresses, suits/tuxes, and make-up. A lot of my students asked me why I wasn’t wearing a prom dress. I told them that it wasn’t the first thing I thought to pack when I moved here. Ha. It was quite a sight to see and it made me really excited for the junior and senior proms that will be held later on this year!

3rd period prom beauties

Thursday was Jersey Day. I wore a shirt that said “Minnesota.” I got the same comment all day, “Miss, that’s not a jersey.” “I know.” It was funny. A few people had Bears gear on. One person had a Cubs shirt. A lot had on Polamalu and Manu Samoa jerseys. Manu Samoa is the Western Samoa rugby team.  Polamalu is on the Steelers and everyone in AmSam is his number one fan. Friday was Rainbow Day. This was the day I looked forward too, mainly because I just love wearing lots of color! Spirit Week was a lot of fun, but it was also very chaotic in the classroom: everybody was all over the place and all sorts of crazyness went on.

I feel like I'm always posting pictures of these boys (maybe because they like to take 5 million pictures of themselves). This was Rainbow Day!

In my proficient classes, we finished up a poetry unit. I taught them five types of poetry: acrostic, mono-rhyme, diamante, nonet, and shape. They then had to write their own poetry book using each of the poems. The books turned out really nice. Some decorated them with pictures, others drew Samoan designs, one was even bedazzled in sequins. Abby started reading them before me and soon found several poems that appeared in many people’s books. Plagiarism. Darn it. This put a damper on me because now I need the internet to check all the poems to make sure they didn’t get all of them from the internet. As of right now, I’m about halfway through the books. I’ve only found about 5 or 6 people that have taken poems from the internet (some of which I’m really disappointed because they are some of my smartest students.) The rest of the books are wonderful in every way. They have made me laugh and they have surprised me. I have some really talented and creative writers!

Last weekend was Tisa’s Tattoo Festival. It’s an annual event that happens on the east side at Tisa’s Bar (I’ve visited several times for a much needed afternoon drink). Abby and I as well as several other friends made our way over there on Saturday. We were on a bus that was so packed that Abby was sitting on my lap. I couldn’t stop laughing because life here is so surprising. One minute you’re sitting on a bus packed with Samoans, and the next minute you’re being attacked by a pack of dogs. Cool. Anyways, we ended up staying at the festival for most of the day and night. Several tattoo artists from the island were giving tattoos by gun, and one, Wilson, was giving tattoos by the traditional tap tattoo. He is one of 8 people in the entire world that knows the true and traditional art of the tap tattoo. It is an important part of the Samoan culture and according to history, Samoans were the ones who invented the tatau. With the tap tattoo, women will get their entire thighs tattooed and men will get tattooed from the waist down to their knees. The tattoo will literally cover every (and I mean every) inch of skin within that area. According to a Samoan we met (and not to be gross or anything) but they even “spread the buttcheeks” to ink them as well. Hardcore tattooing. The entire process was mesmerizing and looked ridiculously painful. It involves a stick with a piece of bone on the end. The bone is dipped in some sort of ink, and is then placed on the skin. From there, the artist will tap another stick on top of the bone stick and create a tattoo. It’s difficult to explain. Maybe these pictures will help you understand. All in all, I could have watched this all day long. The tattoos are breathtakingly beautiful and I wish so bad that I could be brave enough to get one. I just don’t think I’d do well with the pain. Eep.

The actual artist is the one on the left. The other two are stretching the skin for the tattoo. EEOWW. The guy getting the tattoo looks like he's taking a nap.

Up close shot of the actual tattooing. Check out that piece of bone. Whew.

 This is a picture of the traditional malu, the tattoo that is given to women. It is performed by the tapping method. In this photo, the girl was performing a siva, which means "dance." I spoke to a 15 year old girl who had recently gotten her malu and she said that it took about three hours. I asked her if she cried and she told me that her mother is very hard on her so crying would have shown that she was weak. All the power to ya. I'd sure cry.

In other news, running club is still running! The numbers are low, but it makes life a little easier when I don’t have to keep track of 16 teenagers all running down the street. Sometimes (like today), two of my regular boys will come and we can actually run at the pace I normally run. I like this. We don’t have much conversation during the run because the sun is so hot that I can even feel it roasting inside my ears (that’s how intense it is.) Today we raced the last 100 meters of our run. I won. HA! I’ve still got some sort of endurance in this crazy weather. I’ve even convinced the two boys to run track (which I will hopefully be coaching!)

Saturday and Sunday nights are turning into adventure nights for Abby and I. We have decided to embrace the pitch black darkness of Malaeloa (My-lay-low-ah), the village behind us and go for night walks around 7:30. I bring along a flashlight and we walk. People always say hi to us or ask us for our phone numbers or ask us where we live. It’s fun. This island is also swarming with toads so we are constantly yelping and gasping at all the bellied up, squished, and hopping things. I’ve never seen so many dead toads in my life. They make this island STINK. P-U!

Here’s a random AmSam funny for you: the letters b and p are the same here. While this is not part of the language or grammatically correct, it’s just become a “norm.” Students will write p instead of b in their journals, on their homework, and on the chalkboard. I’ve learned to embrace it although it’s quite funny when words like “porn” pop up on their work when they clearly meant born. It’s funny to point this out to them. “Oye!” They’ll say and then fix it. Makes me laugh.

Today (Saturday) was a good day. Embracing the rain is something I am learning to do. I throw on my raincoat (I still really need to buy an umbrella…) and start walking. Abby and I spent the morning at the village soccer games. Abby is on the Leone team. After waiting for almost 3 hours, the team Leone was supposed to play ended up not having a team at all. We got a ride home from a friend and spent the entire 20 minute ride getting drenched in the back of her truck. Good times. Following that, we headed over to the new “fast food” joint in Leone. It just opened on Thursday and it’s the only place around here to get food to go. It’s owned by the family of a student who goes to our high school. He’s quickly become Abby and I’s really good friend. Following a French fry break, Abby and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the village of Vailoa. A while ago, we made friends with the family of one of Abby’s students. The family has 13 children all of which are under the age of 14. Whew. We took 7 of the kids and played Frisbee, went swimming in the ocean, and visited their new baby pig. The family even invited us to spend the night. It was a heartwarming day and like always, made me fall a little bit more in love with this beautiful island.

Stay tuned for a post about the MTV Showdown we had at school this past week, our football team's win against Kananafou HS (50-8, baby! Have I mentioned that LHS went from losing every game to winning all the time now? We even beat the only undefeated team on the island. OKA!), and other islandic shenanigans. Malo and fa soifua!

Peace, Rain, and Robbers

Today's Spirit Week theme was "Hippy Day." For the most part, they seemed to all understand how to dress like one (especially with the limited resources on island!). I wore jeans for the first time in almost four months and it felt so weird. I felt more like myself and I think it was because I was wearing pants...it had been a while!

Hippies in 5th period

Hippies in 3rd period...I'm still not sure why they think taking a picture at this angle is cool.

Hippies in 2nd period. Yeah, I don't really look like a hippy.

Boys hamming it up for the camera during lunch. The boy on the left is wearing a wig which could easily pass as Samoan hair. I also found out today that the boy in the middle is a twin of another one of my students. I always knew they had the same last name but I just figured that they were cousins...but no, they're fraternal twins. I am shocked! They are completely different in every way.

Abby and I representing the WEST SIDE. True fia gangsters right there.

This is a new addition to the Lion Running Club! He came into my classroom yesterday and got excited when he saw my Brian Urlacher (sp?) calendar. Today he showed up in an Urlacher jersey so I of course had to take his picture!

In other news, I forgot to mention 2 things in my post yesterday:

1) A student brought a puppy to class. It sat on her lap the entire class. No big deal.

2) Someone broke into my classroom this weekend...boooo. I ALWAYS triple check to make sure my door is locked whenever I leave my classroom. Sometimes I will get all the way to the office and then have to run all the way back thinking that I forgot to lock it. When I got to school yesterday, my door was unlocked. When I came in, my fans were on. Hmm. When I got to my desk, I noticed that things that were normally inside my desk were on top of my desk. BOOOOOO.

Things that were stolen from my classroom: my 99 cent bottle of HAND SANITIZER (seriously?), a bag of Lifesaver mints (understandable), a bag of Post-It's (random), my big ream of colored construction paper (I just realized this today and I'm super bummed about it.), and a student's uniform that he accidentally left in my class after running club on Friday (this made me feel awful).

Things that were not stolen from my classroom: my $2,000 iMac computer (you take my hand sanitizer but not my computer...??), my stapler (whew!), 4 pairs of shoes that belong to kids in the running club, my classroom phone, my chalk, and my broom (everyone's always trying to take it!).

People are weird. Anyways, the custodians discovered that the person unscrewed one of the wire gates and climbed in through one of my windows. I guess they walked out my room and then went back to the wire gate and tried to screw it back on. They must have gotten hot during all this because my fans were on. So sneaky...pff. THANKS A LOT, ROBBER!

One last comment. I think the rainy season has officially arrived. Rain, rain, rain...all the time. Everyone wanted to run in their slippers (flip flops) for running club yesterday so I sent them all home. They said that they didn't want to get their shoes wet because they'd smell. When I run in rain at home, my shoes don't smell. I ended up running by myself. When I went to put my shoes on today to run, I almost gagged. My shoes smell awful now. Must have something to do with all the dirty rivers I ran through! Ew.

Fa!

BOO!

This week is Spirit Week at school. Today was Ghost Day. How does a palagi (who already glows) dress like a ghost? By wearing all white, of course. Reactions to my outfit included the following:

- Catcalling after I walked by (aheeeeem).

- "Miss, just because you're wearing all white doesn't mean you're a ghost."

- "Miss, you're so beautiful!"

- "Are you going to church?" (HA! This was the most common reaction).

I guess my white skirt, white t-shirt, and ghost earrings (thanks Vickie and Barb!) didn't qualify as a true ghost costume to my students, but some of them came to school wearing black and white stripes, high heels, and weird face paint...that makes you a ghost??

Ghost, myself, and two boys that just wanted their picture taken with the teacher.

Black ghost, Palagi ghost, and White ghost: Multicultural Ghosts!

I went to the girls volleyball game after school. I have a few on the Varsity team. Both the JV and Varsity whooped the Voc-Tech's butts! Seki a!

The Varsity football team got done with practice so they all crowded around me at the Vball game. "Miss Quinn! The score is 9 to 8! Miss Quinn, come sit by me (everyone laughs). Miss Quinn! Take my picture!" Samoans are so fun. All the boys in this picture are seniors, so none of them are mine.

I almost stepped on this XXXL snail on my walk/run home. Neat, right?

It's a perfectly cool night. And when I say perfect, I mean perfect. For the first time in a long time, my skin is not sticky. I may or may not have just had some hot chocolate...it's cold! (In all reality, it's probably 75 degrees...haha.) Stay tuned for tomorrows theme...it's a good one! 

No Palolo for me

As I sat on the white sand of Airport Beach at 2:00 a.m. the other night, I gazed up at the sky full of bright, sparkling stars. I managed to see three shooting stars (score!) and yes, I made three wishes. Life doesn't get any better than that, right? Stargazing on a beach in American Samoa?

What I've failed to mention is the following:

- I was one sleepy teacher. School wears me out. At home, it took me at least an hour to fall asleep. Here, it takes me 10 or less minutes. Having to stay up past 10:00 was a challenge. I took a one hour power nap, but that only made me more tired.

- 2 minutes after we got out of the taxi and started the long hike to the beach, it started pouring. And by pouring, I mean POURING. I remembered to bring my raincoat (whew) but that only does so much. The poncho you sent me wouldn't have done much, Mom. I had to walk all the way to that little beach soaking wet from rain. I also had to make sure I didn't trip and fall on rocks, or get thrown into the ocean (that wouldn't have happened, but I'm trying to make this hike sound extreme even though it's not). I did get sprayed by a few blowholes though.

- The hike and beach were PACKED with Samoans. I'm surprised they weren't chanting "PALOLO! PALOLO! PALOLO!" I can hear it now in my mind - it would have been neat. As we hiked, Samoans literally raced around us. I was amazed. Nothing like a little sea worm to get ya going faster than glacial pace.

- 5 minutes after arriving at the beach: rainfall number two. We were lucky to get invited under a tarp tent by Samoans. They later cooked us a fish over a fire. Seki a.

- It was a long, slow, "I AM SO TIRED. WHY DID I LEAVE MY BED TO GO LOOK AT WORMS," kind of wait. We killed about 3.5 hours of time doing a whole lot of nothing on that beach.

- I was cold, like legit, legit cold. My rain coat was keeping the wind away, but after getting wet from the rain, my body just couldn't warm up. Abby and I eventually huddled under a tiny towel. Brr. 10 minutes before we left, we realized that the water was a heck of a lot warmer than the outside temperature. We should have just sat in it the whole time!

- Last but not least, I didn't even see a silly Palolo. I know, right?? All that for NOTHIN. Apparently it was a "bad catch" at Airport Beach and no one really caught any because they weren't really coming out. People were in the water with their flashlights (edit: in my last post, I said that they glow. I was wrong. They don't glow at all. People use flashlights to spot them.) and the National Park Service set up some traps, but from what it looked like, no one had much success. Everybody packed up and hiked back. By the time I got home and got in bed (after taking a freezing cold shower. oy), it was about 4:00 a.m. I had to be up at 6:25. Less than 2.5 hours of sleep before teaching 105 juniors? Hooray.

All in all, I'm glad I went. Someday I will look back on it and be really glad that I attempted to see Palolo. While I didn't get to eat any, I did get to see shooting stars, so I'm a happy Quinn.

In other news, Wednesday night was Parent Teacher Conference night. I met with a total of 15 parents, 14 of which their children were either getting an A or A+. It felt weird being on the teacher side of the table and telling parents that their children are excellent students and very respectful. Some parents were shocked when I said how great of a student their child was in my class. "I wish he/she would do that well in other classes." (That made me feel good!) I, of course, wished that more parents of my challenging and un-motivated students would have come, but sadly they did not.

Tonight was the first meeting of the Lion Running Club! 12 students showed up. 2 wore slippers (flip flops) and 1 ran in his socks. While I told them that they could just come back tomorrow with their shoes, they were too excited so they just ran in what they had. I thought it was funny. It was a pretty random group but I did have students from all grades, so that was nice. We ran to a field down the road, did some shin walks, some circuit exercises, abs, push-ups, and then ran back. Some of them barely ran, others ran the whole time. Abs and push-ups were extremely hard for them, but they enjoyed the squats and lunges. It was an adventure, that's for sure! A lot more students are still interested in the club, they just forgot to bring in their consent forms. We will see how many show up tomorrow!

Last but not least, I must share with you a 'melt-my-heart' moment that happened today. In 2nd period, my students were writing a Diamante poem (poem shaped like a diamond) and as I was reading over some of their poems, I noticed that one of my boys was sitting by my desk and writing something. I got distracted and forgot to go see what he was doing. After the class left, I remembered and went over to my desk. In my lesson planning notebook, he had wrote, "When you read these few word I hope you'll think just for a moment of how much you meant to me. There are so many people whom I dearly love and care about in this world but theres no one else quite like you." Can we all say AWW. I got my first love note. The student that wrote it can always make me smile. He's sweet, does his work, and is clearly a charmer (and a good writer!) Reading his little anonymous note made my day so much better.  

I got the note from the student on the right. What a cutie! (The other two are cute too, of course! They make me smile just as much.)

Pictures and Palolo

This little baby and I are getting pretty close. I now know a total of 5 chords! I can even play them without looking...practice makes perfect, right? Several students have offered to teach me so I'm taking up their offers this Friday for my first official lesson! (BTW: don't I look super uber matchy in this picture? I also do look sort of "brown" now, don't I? Hmm.)

These are the bracelets I bought in Apia at the market. I paid a total of 5USD for both. They are handwoven, handpainted, and handcarved from coconut. Seki a!

This was my most exciting purchase from the market: a handcarved, turtle shaped, coconut shell Q necklace! Q is such a hard letter to find...it's never on any of those gas station keychains or necklaces (not that I would ever buy one of those things, but still!) and it's never on coffee mugs or stuff like that. I like that I have to come all the way to Samoa to find one!

Fancy earrings, complete with Polynesian art.

More fancy earrings!

In other news, tonight officially marks Palolo night (or so I have heard). What is Palolo, you ask and why does it get a night to itself? Palolo is a sea creature...aka a creepy looking spaghetti-ish shaped worm that floats up to the surface of the ocean two times a year. They pop up around 2 a.m. and apparently glow really bright, so half the Samoan population (or so I'm guessing) head out to the ocean and scoop them up with a net. They then proceed to eat them (gag). Some are eaten raw, others are cooked with butter and onions. I think I'll just watch. Maybe I'll eat a raw one? Why the heck not? Anyways, the Leone household will be leaving our home at 10:15, driving to the village of Fogagogo (try to say that one in Samoan!), and then trekking the half hour walk to Airport Beach. Thank goodness I have a headlamp. It's gonna be a late night...I should probably go take a nap.

Here's some background info: Palolo Worm  (I'm sorry if the pictures gross you out - don't worry, they gross me out too and I might be eating that - um, ew).

Fa soifua!

Venting and Running

As much as I love my life here in American Samoa, it in no way replaces my love for home sweet home Illinois. While my life in Illinois might not be as exciting or adventurous as my life in Pua Pua/Leone, it is still home to many people, places, and things that I love.

AmSam doesn’t have my family. Sometimes it’s hard to come home to an empty house and not be greeted with a big hug. Thankfully, I have now been graced with a computer at school and faster internet so I can Skype them more often.

AmSam doesn’t have my BFF’s. While my best friends are scattered all over the place, it’s still hard to be so far away from them. Sometimes I just want to call them up and go out for coffee!

AmSam doesn’t have fast internet. I shouldn’t be complaining about this at all because some people don’t have internet, but when it creeps at glacier pace, I get a tad annoyed. I’ve gotten used to it, but sometimes I’d really like to load a TV show or watch a Youtube and not have to wait 10 hours. A girl can only dream.

AmSam has really expensive strawberries. They sell them at the KS Mart for $9 a pint/box/whatever that thing is called. $9. NINE DOLLARS. WHAT. The sad thing is, no one ever buys them so they get moldy and then probably get thrown away. While it’s not really strawberry season at home anymore, the warm weather here (and summer hasn’t even arrived yet!) makes me crave them even more. [Random, I know.]

That’s all I really have to vent about right now. I’m a bit under the weather but the tea I’m drinking and the cool night breeze is a little rejuvenating. TGIF by the way. It’s no fun to teach when you’re feeling sick (actually, it’s awful in every way) so I rewarded my classes with a movie today. What did we watch? The Little Rascals. After a malfunction with the movie I brought, it was the only other DVD I could find at school. Turns out that it was the perfect choice. Nothing is more entertaining than being in a room full of 16 and 17 year old Samoans who are watching Alfalfa and Spanky dance around in tutus. I’m telling you, Samoans have some of the biggest belly laughs (more like full body laughs) I have ever seen and heard. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but they literally use their entire body to laugh.

In other news, have I mentioned that I’m starting a running club at school? I got the approval from my principal last week and on the day I posted the flier that advertised for the club, I already had 30+ students signed up by 1:30 in the afternoon. As of today I have over 50 signed up!! Students I don’t even teach or know have come by my classroom to add their name on the list. I’ve got a pretty good mix of boys and girls, too! We have our first meeting on Monday. I’m a bit anxious about how I’m going to handle a classroom of 50+ kids (actually, I’m just anxious about them being quiet enough so everyone can hear me) but I’m ready to hit the road running with them! I will keep you updated on how Coach Quinn survives her first week of trying to get a group of kids in shape.

For now, I must go to sleep. I’m always ready for bed by 8:00 (or so it seems) on Friday. It’s hard to believe that I was in Apia a week ago – how fast time flies.

Manuia le po and manuia le weekend!

Paradise Found!

I live on a tropical island in the South Pacific. It has been 3 months since I landed here and I still can’t believe it. It feels weird to say that I live in American Samoa. At the same time, hearing coconuts falling from trees (I actually almost jumped out of my seat today when one fell right outside my window at school – it’s so darn loud and unexpected!), seeing men wearing “skirts”, and feeling chilled when the temperature drops below 80 degrees is all pretty normal to me now. I know how to catch a bus and how to tell the driver when to stop. I know the names of and understand the different coconut cream dishes (palusami, pikaki, etc…). Pronouncing Samoan names is becoming easier and I am even extending my own Samoan dictionary (hardly, but still…getting there). The challenge of classroom management and dealing with 105 16 and 17 year olds is getting a smidge easier every day and I’m still going to school with a smile on my face. I think I have finally settled into my island life.

What better way to celebrate such an accomplishment than taking a vacation! This past weekend was one of the most surreal 4 days I have ever had. If you were not aware, the Samoan islands consist of both American Samoa and Western Samoa, but they are two completely different places. They have a different currency and are not associated with the United States. The main two islands are called Upolu (Oo-pole-oo) and Sava’ii (Saa-vaa-ee). Last Friday, myself and a few of my friends escaped to Upolu and proceeded to spend the next several days in a stupor that can only be summed up as “wow.”

The currency in Western Samoa, aka the tala (taa-laa). Pretty!

After a crazy week at school, Friday couldn’t come soon enough. We ended up getting out of school a couple hours early (I’m starting to get used to the fact that school just might end at a random time). Abby and I quick changed out of our teacher attire and booked it to the nearest bus stop…and a bus never came. We started to walk in the general direction of the airport and eventually got picked up by one of our fellow teachers.  20 minutes later we were at the airport and in line to check in and get our boarding passes! Our flight was supposed to depart at 4:40. We didn’t end up flying until 5:15. Island time, people. The plane we flew was the smallest plane I have ever been on. There were a total of 19 people (including the pilot and co-pilot) and they had to place us in our seats depending on our weight. (When we got our boarding passes, we had to stand with our luggage on a scale…hahaha). Laugh out loud, right? After a quick 30 minute ride, we were landing in Apia, the capital of Upolu. Flying over Upolu was incredible…it’s SO big compared to American Samoa. Sava’ii is even bigger! The first thing I noticed was that Western Samoa is a lot less industrialized than AmSam. There was so much free land – a nice sight to see instead of buildings and roads everywhere. When we got off the plane, we grabbed our backpacks, and instead of taking a taxi, we decided we would be true backpackers and walk to our motel. We walked for a looooong time, asked many people for directions, and eventually found it, only to realize that we were at the wrong branch of the motel. After getting a ride to the right branch, we checked into our rooms, dropped off our bags, and headed to the nearest restaurant. We dined on some delicious Indian cuisine (butter chicken and naan = extremely yummy) and a bottle of wine before heading back to get some sleep – we had all had a long week at school and needed some rest.

Peter, Lauren, and Abby in front of our teensy tiny Polynesian propellor airplane.

This was the view from my seat. Squished!

Enjoying some good wine with good friends (Lauren in purple and Abby in black). You'll notice the signs in the background for the food. The Chicken Tikka Marsala was 16 tala which meant that it was less than 8USD. Sweet.

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to check out the market in Apia. As we walked around Apia in broad daylight, I have never been so overwhelmed in my entire life. This was a religious weekend and holiday for the Samoan culture so everyone had come into town to do their shopping. Not only does Apia have stoplights (WEIRD! Forgot about those!), but there were so many cars and buses, and people EVERYWHERE. Abby and I panicked a little and were happy to get out of there. I don’t have a lot of pictures from the market, but I did come home with a lot of beautiful, hand carved and painted coconut shell jewelry! Following our market trip, we dined on some fresh fish and chips (talk about DELICIOUS!) and hopped into a taxi --- we were headed to Lalomanu (La-low-maa-nuu) out on the east side! The ride took exactly an hour and a half and I spent the entire time soaking in the beauty of the island. The houses, the fales, the people (especially the little kids – “Palagi!” – it’s adorable to see a little Samoan face light up when you wave to them), and the unlimited number of palm trees. I even saw COWS and HORSES! First stop lights and now big farm animals!

Delicious fish and chips...and a huge bottle of water. It was SO hot this day.

We eventually pulled up to Taufua (Taow-foo-aa) Beach Fales, the place where we would spend the next 2 nights and wow-ee was my jaw dropped. Words can’t describe the beauty of Lalomanu. You know the typical beach screensaver shot on your computer? That’s where I was. WOW-EEE! I really can’t explain it. I slept in a HUT on the BEACH. It took me 10 seconds to get out of my bed, walk down a few stairs, down the beach and BAM – OCEAN.  I fell asleep to the crashing of waves. I dined on lobster and octopus and the most amazing potato salad I have ever tasted. I saw breathtaking sunsets and sunrises. I saw 2 humpback whales!!! I took long walks on the most amazing white sand beach. I sipped from a fresh coconut right off the tree. I swam (in my swimsuit – yay for not having to wear a tshirt and shorts!). I sat on the beach at 3 a.m. by myself and looked at the stars. I snorkeled and saw beautiful fish! I made friends and danced with a bunch of awesome, fun Samoans (who were all my age!). I watched some handsome, perfectly toned, Samoan men siva (dance) and throw fire around. I saw a shooting star. I enjoyed some fruity beach drinks. I spent the weekend in turquoise blue water. WHAT A ROUGH LIFE!

Our fale is on the left. Yes, that is the ocean...right behind it! EEE!

Our fale had mosquito nets but I didn't get bit once so I slept without it. Early Monday morning, a huge storm rolled in - lots of rain and wind. It was crazy loud and the waves were HUUUUGE.

I'm standing in front of our fale and looking right. We would go for walks on the beach at dusk...and we would usually walk between 20-30 minutes one way. Lalomanu Beach is really long! The big fale on the right is where we would eat breakfast and dinner. The place is packed with people every weekend so we sat at huge tables and they served the food family style. It was a great way to meet people (99% of the people are palagi's - a lot from New Zealand and Australia).

I'm standing in front of my fale and looking left. There's another fale resort down from Taufua on the left. That big island out there just sort of sits there. No one lives there but someone goes out there to collect coconuts and other stuff...spooky.

Kasey, Lauren, myself, and Abby before dinner on Saturday night.

Oh my DELICIOUS. Besides lobster and octopus, we also had fish, chicken, pork straight off the pig (literally), lots of Samoan dishes, eggs, toast, oranges, beans, potato salad, rice, tortillas, bbq chicken, pancakes, curry, etc. etc. etc. I ate like a queen!

This was a highlight to the weekend. Half naked Samoan guys performing traditional dances and throwing fire around. We later danced to top 40 songs and hung out with them. It was swell.

Anyone care to join me on my return trip?

Snorkeling buddies. Right after we took this picture, it started raining. Swimming in the ocean when it's raining is SO FUN!

Needless to say, coming home was really hard. I could have stayed there for a few more weeks. But, I had to come back to reality and to teaching. Our flight home was sad – I wasn’t ready to part from my vacation and I was so exhausted. Lying on a beach all day is tiring! The landing into Pago Pago was awful. I was a little scared for my life for a few seconds…holy turbulence and shaking airplane. But, no worries. We landed.

My seat on the way home was right behind these guys. Sweet!

This week is Midterm week so thankfully I don’t have to do any teaching. I’ve got a fridge full of fresh papaya (sprinkle a little lime on it and it’s absolutely mouthwatering) and a heck of a lot of laundry to do. Life is life in AmSam and I’m gonna keep living it!

Gross on the outside.

Delicious on the inside!

It took me forever and a day to cut the whole thing, but boy is it worth it. SO GOOD. Also, earlier on in the day, one of my students said, "Miss, you're turning brown." Thank you?? Do I look brown to you?

Fa soifua!