Big Island Adventures

            Savaii has a lot of cool sites to see. I have a checklist of the things I would like to do and see just on Savaii alone over these next two years.

1.      See the sunset from Falealupo…check

2.      Alofaaga Blow Holes

3.      Dwarf  Caves…check

4.      Nuu Black Sand Beach

5.      Afu Aau Waterfall

6.       Go hiking

7.      Bike around the whole Island

8.      Scuba certification….check off next week

9.      Visit all the 83 PCV’s on the Island and their villages

a.      Olivia…check

b.      Mikaele…check

c.       Tevi

d.      Sara

e.       Nancy

f.        Lopati

g.      Pat

10.  Sinaloa Waterfall

I’m sure more attractions will be added….

So I already wrote about my spending New Years in Falealupo and seeing the last sunset of 2010 and how wonderful it was.

I must tell you all about the Dwarf Cave a couple of us went to on Saturday.

So the legend goes something along the lines of a man discovering dwarfs that lived in a cave. He would keep their existence a secret only if they built him a house. So they did in one night. People became suspicious which led to the man asking for more buildings eventually ending up with a whole village. The people wouldn’t not believe that the man did it all himself and finally annoyed him enough to tell them about the dwarfs. As soon as the dwarfs found out they ran to their cave a barricaded the hole so no one could ever see them again.

The trip to the cave was not what I thought it was going to be. I convinced my friends that it was a short walk to the site, knowing full well I had no idea how long of a walk it would be. It ended up being about a hour long walk, uphill in muddy/manure filled paths. Totally worth it! Once you get to the cave it looks like a big hole in the ground. You have to climb into and down a bunch of rocks. Once you are away from the opening than it is pitch black. Each person should have their own flashlight; we made the mistake of only bring two. Actually the pencil sized one doesn’t really count as a flash light, more like a lazar pointer. We ventured to both ends of the cave. One led us into a dead end up piled up rocks, the other led us to a small drop into a pool of water. It looked as though there was more on the other side of the pool but we weren’t sure how deep the water was and how we could get back up. Our tour guides were 10 year old Samoan boys whose only job was to hold the flashlights. We made the decision to stay put and not test the waters. I definitely plan on going back and taking the other volunteers who have not been. The pictures didn’t come out so well, just picture “The Goonies” but take away the traps and dead bodies.

Update of the village life…

I finished making and hanging the curtains in my house. I have put up a couple different art pieces that I created. I am hoping to shelves or some sort of storage for my books and things. I finally have a working stove. It is a gas one and I already lit the table it sits on on fire; not my fault, the cable wasn’t screwed in all the way. I blame it on the installer, aka my host brother. Nothing was severely damaged, don’t worry.

Mostly I am just hanging around the village, perfecting the art of Kafau. School starts in 2 weeks! Next week a group of us are getting certified in Scuba Diving, so I am looking forward to that!

Shout out to my Mom <3

I got some letters!
Thank you to....

Auntie Trish
Brittany Freeman...Congrats to the newlyweds!
Putrino Family...LOVE MY HEADBAND
Kathleen Foerster <3
and Holy Family 5th grade class

thanks for the love everyone.....keep them coming

Chocolate Cake

            I remember on the plane ride over here I sat next to a Samoan woman who moved to the states in her late twenties. She was a wonderful woman with a big personality. She told me stories about the PCV who lived with her family, specifically about her stealing his peanut butter.

            One of the first things a current volunteer told us when we got here was about peanut butter, and I can’t quite remember exactly what it was. I do remember from that moment on I felt this strong desire for peanut butter, I even think it was one of the first things I told my mom to send to me in a package. Weird things is, is that back home I didn’t eat peanut butter all that much, if I wanted to then it was easily accessible. Truth is, is that it is pretty easy to get here, but yes a little pricey. However, I will say that peanut butter is definitely a staple in my diet and in many other PCV’s.

            So once I got over the peanut butter craze along came my craving for sweets. Back in the states I would usually go for another helping of mashed potatoes or two rolls of sushi rather than save room for dessert. I think maybe it’s because I knew that if I had the craving for dessert, I could get just about any dessert I wanted if I really tried. Here however, it’s a treat, a treat that I miss and find myself longing for all the time.

            My first time I had chocolate cake, it wasn’t chocolate cake. It was brown like chocolate and had icing on it, but it was not chocolate. I had this same kind for a couple different occasions and slowly gave up hope that Samoa had the knowledge of how to create such a delicious yet simple dessert. I eventually chose the easier more reliable yet always good dessert of the samoan fruit pie. Until one day my host brother brought in a cake from town….a chocolate cake. I mean a real chocolate tasting chocolate cake. I had to share with my neighboring PC brother but the leftovers were for me. Once this day came it seems that it initiated the endless number of fa’a lavelaves(any kind of event funeral, wedding, party, etc). To me this meant a endless amount of chocolate cake. Seriously, I have had at least one, usually more, but at least one piece of chocolate cake every week. And not fake chocolate cake either, real honest to goodness chocolate cake. Yes I am aware of the fact that my taste buds may have lowered their standards for such things like chocolate cake (actually I know they have because tomato “sauce” has become an acceptable substitute for tomato ketchup), in any case it is my goal to find a way to have one piece of chocolate cake a week, maybe a I could lower the bar to one piece of chocolate a week. One piece of chocolate cake a week will be a hard task to complete seeing as how I am on Savaii and I have seen only one cake bakery (it is on the bus ride home from town however I can’t stop the bus just to run in and get a piece of cake. Well actually I probably could but I think about how pissed I would be if someone interrupted my trip to get a piece of freaking chocolate cake).

I will let you know how my cake plan works out. For now I had my last piece of chocolate cake on Sunday. It was delightful and the perfect start of the week or end of the week if you’re one of those people who thinks Sunday is the last day of the week. In any case it was delicious.

For those people who think they have read a completely pointless blog post here is an update on what I have been doing followed by some pictures….

Last week I went to my training village for my family’s reunion. I met all the family from my host mother’s side. Most of them came from New Zealand and some from Australia. We had a big night time prayer together and dinner at a local beach restaurant, and yes there was chocolate cake.

I played bingo for the first time in my village on Friday. I needed to just get it over with; I managed to escape it in my training village. I think that most older women in my village are addicted. There is a game almost every day and sometimes twice a day. It ends up being pretty pricey especially if you play every day and never win. You also have to play with 9 or 18 cards at a time; it’s also in warp speed Samoan and last for about three hours while you’re sitting Indian style on the floor. BINGO anyone? Good news, I did win 20 tala during the last game. No chocolate cake.

Saturday I went to a wedding in the next village. I am pretty sure this bride didn’t want to get married, but she looked so beautiful even with a frown on her face. This wedding was a little different than the one I went to in the beginning of training. The groomsmen start at one end of the isle and the bridesmaids at the back of the church. They meet each other in the middle while walking extremely slow. The women lay the men with a necklace of flowers and the men give the women a bouquet and a kiss on the cheek then escort them to the altar. The reception was lovely and I was even asked to perform my own siva (dance) on the brides behalf. Once the bride and groom cut the cake they come around with small pieces for everyone (it wasn’t until later I learned you’re supposed to wait until everyone has their piece…I inhaled mine immediately). They give a toast while everyone holds up their piece of cake and then eats it. Cheersing with cake….I love this country.

The past two days have been lazy but relaxing which is nice after all the village mayhem for the holidays. It really hasn’t stopped raining either. I have been reading, painting and making curtains for my windows. I also have been having mini marathons of the big bang theory, which I recommend if you have never watched. School starts in three weeks so I am enjoying the downtime and exploring the big Island whenever I can and when it’s not raining.,

Have a piece of chocolate cake for me….Steph and Kristine I know you won’t disappoint me

Waiting at the marketi for a bus....

At the church fundraiser..."Tausala"

standard pose

My nieces and nephews at the reunion :)

Only thing missing.....chocolate cake...i hate it before i could take a picture

The S Factor

           

                   “Its too hard”….this was the response I received from the girl behind the counter at a local ice cream place when I asked for a certain flavor that was close to being empty. Now, there was definitely enough for one maybe even two cones. I thought that they would appreciate this because then they would be able to replace it with a new flavor, but no…it would just take way to much effort to scoop the bottom of the bucket. What is even more humorous was my immediate response, to look for a different flavor. I wasn’t annoyed or pissed off; I accepted her answer without thinking twice and went for the triple chocolate instead. It wasn’t until about ten minutes later that we realized what she said. One of the girls brought it up and wondered what would happen if this happened in America, we all came to the conclusion that it just wouldn’t and just laughed the rest of the time enjoying our ice cream. This is just one of the many examples of the S factor.

                   After being here for three months responses like “it’s too hard”, “11 maybe 12 or 1” and “not now I’m busy” are acceptable responses. My favorite is “not now, I’m busy”. In this case, “not now” isn’t referring to this very moment, it covers anywhere from one day to a month. The big mystery always seems to be what they are so busily doing.

“When is the fia fia going to start?”

“Maybe 7 or 8 or maybe 9”

                   When it comes to any event in Samoa, I just wait for someone in the family to come get me, whether its church, a party, or dinner. There seems to be no real concept of time. I was waiting for a bus to get to Faleolupo for New Years. There is only one bus that comes through that will go to that side of the island. When is it coming? maybe noon or maybe two. That is a big gap of time and I was a little nervous it may not come at all. It didn’t, and my host brother was kind enough to take me. I am sure you all are wondering if there is anyone to call or a schedule of times. If you are wondering this than consider me just laughing at you right now. There is no bus headquarters, each bus is owned by a different family on the Island. The schedule usually runs around the boats, but there are no exact times. One day I sat waiting for a bus that usually come around eleven, didn’t show up until half past noon. I wonder how much time I will spend this next two years just waiting….

New Years was amazing. Faleolupo is a small village on the far west side of Savaii. It is also the last place you can see the sunset on the Earth. It was a bit cloudy but it was still a sight and we all felt a little special watching the last sunset of the year. I was lucky to spend the weekend with my closest friends in such a beautiful place. At the end of the weekend the s factor came into play again when everyone was trying to figure out when the boats were leaving and if there were buses. Each person heard something different.

…..maybe boats but no buses, maybe only one boat today or no boats…

Lets stay until Monday….

but Monday is a holiday soo I think maybe there will be no boats or buses

Needless to say everyone got where they needed to be on Sunday, so it all worked out in the end. I think that after these two years our patience levels will be extremely high. I find myself a very patient person, however, there is one moment that I can’t stand more than anything. When this moment happens, it’s like a dark cloud hovers over me and gives me the feeling of rage and wanting to punch someone. It’s a problem that could be so easily fixed by some rope and signs and posts. The unbearable moment I am referring to is waiting to get a ticket for the ferry. I don’t say waiting in line because that concept is obviously foreign here. It is just a huge crowd of people waiting in front of one window. People push through one another and it doesn’t matter who was first, if your strong enough to get through the mess to make it through to the front than you have earned your spot. It is also the one time I don’t see Samoan hospitality come into play. You are on your own for this battle, you gotta put your gloves on and get in that boxing ring no matter how crowded it is. Yes you can wait until everyone leaves but you may be sacrificing a seat on the inside of the boat, and just remember you meet the monster again when going to the coffee stand on the boat. First lesson when school starts….using the concept of lines in everyday life.

Update on packages: Still not here

Good luck with all your New Years resolutions…..

Last Sunset of 2010

Chris and Rivka contemplating their NY resolutions

The three amigos

Samauga

I arrived in Samauga this past Saturday. After Swear in on Friday group 83 celebrated together one last time before parting ways again, but on our own this time. The Savaii group had to wake up at 5:30 to catch the 8:00 Ferry. We had two vehicles, one that was hauling all of our stuff and was going on the ferry with us; the other was just to transport us to the ferry. We were a little off schedule that morning. The truck did not fit all of our belongings, it was piled so high that one speed bump and all of it would fall off. The van transporting the PCV’s ended up transporting the rest of our stuff that did not fit. The trip was a success, making the 8 o’clock ferry without losing any of our belongings.

The plan was to be picked up by our host families or someone from the school committee at the wharf. I was greeted by my host family as well as my pule(principal). It was a good thing my pule came with a truck, otherwise my stuff would have been left at the wharf. I arrived to Samauga to a finished house and fried chicken. I talked with a member of my host family and pule for a while and then they left me to unpack and have a rest. I woke up to a feeling as if someone was watching me. Sure enough I rolled over to my 5yr old host sister just staring at me and then in a creepy smile saying “hiii jenny”. I knew that this was the moment I met my new best friend. She has quite a sassy personality. She bosses everyone around and I have noticed that most of the village children are afraid of her. I think she is awesome, her name is Sarai.

I live on a family compound. In the first house, which is also connected to the family shop, is a couple with their three daughters. The house behind them is the grandparents and then the guest house is in the back which is occupied right now by the family members visiting from Australia. My house is across from the grandparent’s house. It is a small western house with one bedroom and bathroom. It just needs a little love and decorating, and then it will be perfect.

I am sure you all are wondering how it is going my first Christmas away from home. It is a little tough. Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year. I have been thinking about drinking peppermint mochas with Kristine, trimming the tree with my family (no matter how chaotic it is), waiting last minute to take the Christmas card picture, trying to find where my mom is hiding our Christmas presents, the smell of a real Christmas tree, watching my mom pull post its and gum out of her stocking, Christmas pjs, and of course Christmas morning. I do miss all those things, but I knew that being away for the holidays was all part of this experience. A former PCV told me I had to “Own it” and do whatever I needed to do to make it feel like Christmas. So taking his advice Christmas music is playing nonstop in my fale and I colored some Christmas pictures to hang on the wall.

All in all it has been a good first week in Samauga. I haven’t received any more letters or packages. That’s not to say that they aren’t here, it’s just the matter of me traveling back to Upolu and picking them up. I do have a new address which I will post below. Keep sending letters and e-mails. I will have regular internet access within the next couple months but I am able to use the PC office in the mean time.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays….

Most of our stuff...

Crazy Sarai

My House :)

New Samauga Primary

View from the school

Update

I am a official volunteer!
I wont be able to update for a bit.
Happy Holidays to all!

Tafitoala Group!

Best roomie ever! Natalie

Me and my host brother Steve

Tafitoala before swear in

My Samoan besties...rach and Linds<3 Gonna miss them on the other Island

My New Address

Jenny Sutherland
US Peace Corps Samoa
P.O. Box 7139
Salelologa
SAVAII

Village Life

I will try to sum up the past eight weeks of my life the best I can. I have to do it all in this blog post because I know the likely hood of me talking about training again is very slim. So here it goes….

October 24^th group 83 split up into four different training groups in four separate villages. We gave our goodbye hugs acting like we were leaving one another for good. In reality we were a ten minute bus ride from everyone and met in Apia for center days every friday. I packed in a bag which I would usually use for a weekend getaway and of course my backpack. The Peace Corps arranged transportation and dropped us off at our new homes for the next eight weeks.

8 weeks.....?

Italianos.....PC hotspot

Tafitoala is what I consider my first home in Samoa. I would have said Pacifica Inn before these past eight weeks, but many events have happen over training that changed my feelings. The other PCs in my village were Sam, Mika, Mikaele, and Karene. We had the best language trainer, Fale. I lived with a wonderful older woman named Sene (ironically my same Samoan name). She was like a sweet Grandmother who took very good care of me. Her husband had passed away a number of years ago. She has eight children, some living in Apia and other living overseas. Her children and grandchildren would come over throughout the week and we would spend weekends together. They all were so wonderful to me and made me feel welcomed and apart of the family. My host sister even took me to a wedding. It was very similar to the ones back home. The main difference was the food portions. I had my own tray of food which I originally thought was for the whole table. My family’s main goal was to make me fat like them. I would get teased at the table for how little I ate, but I was okay with that. Every Sunday the family does a to’onai. The best way to describe this meal is to compare it to Thanksgiving…just every week.

Samoan Wedding

Me and little Sene at the wedding

Me little Sene and my sister Patsy

My home in Tafitoala

            My village was right on the coast. I fell asleep to the sound of waves. Downfalls of village life….roosters, no AC, and cold showers. How cold showers quickly change into something you look forward to in the heat of the day. There was a language barrier, well there still is, but it gets better every day and I feel myself becoming for confident with the language. Highlights of village life were afternoon walks and fia fias which I translate into DANCE PARTY.

My Boyfriend..Sa

Mika..the ladies man

Mika...the fafafine

            For most of the weeks our days were filled with too many hours of language training. My two favorite weeks of training were the two that we spent teaching at the village Primary school. For me, those two weeks were a reassurance of why I was doing this whole thing in the first place. I knew practically no Samoan but I have never felt more comfortable being in the classroom. It was so rewarding to see the children’s faces during our lessons and also hearing feedback from the Samoan teachers. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the educational system here needs work. Hearing stories from the past I can tell that improvements have been made, but there is a lot to do still.

Tafitoala Primary

Teaching year 2

Half way through training we were given our site assignments. I have never been more anxious to receive information. For those of you who don’t know I will be on the bigger island, Savaii, in the wonderful village of Samauga. I spent a week visiting the village and the school. The last PCV that was in this village received a grant to build a new school. That was in the process of being built when I arrived. It is finished now. The village also built me my own fale which is exciting!!! There is not much to say about the trip. I spent most of my time at the school and with the Pule (principal). Group 83 met back in Apia at the end of the week, and without any explanation on my part, that day was an important experience for us.

My home in Savaii

Just kidding...if you look to the left you see the house being built...thats mine

Samauga Primarys Next Top Model

When we returned to our training villages the daily schedule resumed. Lots of language training and lots of downtime after that. I started to read during training. Did you know you can actually read books for pleasure and not just because you have a test on it? When our training group couldn’t fit anymore Samoan into our brains we would have our LCF teach us Samoan sivas and songs. Which brings me to culture day…….

I am sure a lot of you heard through the St. Pete grapevine that I killed a chicken. Let me clear up the story…I attempted to kill a chicken, however I failed. When I thought it was dead I drop it and then it popped back up to life as soon as it hit the ground. I begged the rest of the women to let it live….a Samoan women just smiled and grabbed the chicken by the neck and finished the job. My job was not done with the chicken either… once it was dead I had to pluck the feathers out. One word…Gross. So this happened on Culture day. All of 83 joined together in Lotofaga with other PC staff and village people. We learned how cook a traditional Samoan meal. Some of us went to the Plantation to retrieve coconuts and firewood. The females stayed back and made supoesi (papaya soup) for the “plantation workers”. Now I of course volunteered to go to the plantation and I was expecting to be served soup when I returned…but because I am a female I had to jump back into the female role and serve the plantation workers, which I thought I was!!! We learned a lot that day. We watched how they prepare the pig for the umu, and by prepare I mean kill and take the hair off. If you ever wanted to become vegetarian just participate in Samoan Culture Day. Another fun part of the day was learning how to weave baskets from the palm leaves. My teacher left me at the end so I made up my own way to finish the basket, needless to say there were large holes in mine and it wouldn’t have been very effective. When it came time to eat we all picked our roles out of a cup. There was the high chief (Lindsey), she got served first followed by the matais and other important people. Then there was the people who served the food and fanned the people while they were eating….that was me. So we all had to wait until Lindsey was done eating and then the rest of the group eating could be finished. After cleaning up the servants were allowed to eat. They really are not servants; they are usually just the women and children of the family. Don’t worry there is plenty of food for everyone. Once the meal was finished the awesome Tafioala group performed our Sasa dance. After our dance and making all the other groups jealous (just kidding) it was time to go home.

Bring coconuts back from the Plantation

Rachel having trouble with the heat

Me and Vavega

Killing the chicken?

Plucking the chicken

Tevi, Chris, and Lopati

Sorry vegetarians....

Doing our Sasa

TAFITOALA SAUNI

The last few weeks were days filled with preparation for our Language Test, which all of group 83 completed and passed yesterday!!! The last week in the village was bittersweet. I was excited to spend the week in Apia with everyone and for swear in and to go to my new site. But like I said earlier Tafitoala has become my home and I will miss it. Thursday night we watched Karene dance with the Catholic youth at their FiaFia. Friday we had our LPIs and later that evening we had a party with our host mothers. We performed some sivas and songs. We prepared speeches and gave gifts…and then we danced the night away. Last night was the best night in the village and our group realized that we have a special bond. It was at times a love hate relationship but at the end of the day I appreciate every single one of the Tafitoala crew. We made our last walk from the training fale together and attended the EFKS fia fia.

And now it’s today. In Apia with air conditioning and hot showers. In one week Group 83 will be sworn in as official volunteers. These past eight weeks have been a rollercoaster but on Friday it will make it all worth it.

On our last walk together I was talking with my fellow Tafitoala trainees and we were saying how we feel like we are done and now it’s time to go home. But really we are just getting started……..

Presenting our map of Tafitoala

Our training fale

me sam karen mikaele and mika

Me and Sa

Me and Mama Sene

All of us and our host mothers

Me and our Language Teacher Fale

Mika being Meke

Dancing with mama

EFKS youth

Siva Siva

Mikaele and his last breakfast....