A Little Nonsense Now and Then

I know that I haven’t written in over two weeks but we are coming to the end of the 1^st quarter. In fact, Tuesday is the first week of midterms so I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for that. From trying to get grades together to trying teach those last bits of knowledge before the test to constantly hounding my students to turn in their missing work so that they don’t fail, it has been a rather hectic two weeks. Of course, that doesn’t mean I haven’t found the time to enjoy myself. After all, last weekend was my birthday weekend.  It was also the birthday week of a few other volunteers so, needless to say, we had quite the gatherings.

            Last Friday night was another First Friday. As their name suggests, First Fridays occur at night on the first Friday of every month in the Fagatogo market place. People come from all around the island to listen to music, enjoy local cuisine and do a little shopping. I especially enjoy it because it is the perfect opportunity for all of the volunteers to get together, hang out and catch up.

            While I was waiting in line for my seafood chowder, which was absolutely delicious, I started talking to the cashier. She informed me that there would be even more festivities on Saturday because a cruise ship was coming in. Now, since I live so close to Pago Pago Harbor, I see the cruise ships all of the time. However, they typically arrive on week days as I’m walking to school and leave before I leave school so I never actually get the chance to experience their presence on the island. Oh, but what a presence it was!

            As we walked to the post office on Saturday morning (as we do every Saturday), we were stopped on one side by old, white tourists wondering where they could find the beach. On the other side, we were offered cheap island tours by the friendly Samoan bus drivers. It was very strange to realize that we are really neither tourists nor locals. While we may know more about life in American Samoa than 99% of the world, we are still white outsiders to the Samoan people. Whether our presence here is a completely positive thing, I’m still not 100% sure but it certainly provides us with a very unique view of this place. While we are still able to take a tourist’s view of this island as a tropical paradise full of beauty and adventure, we also know many of the hardships and intricacies of Samoan life and culture.

            Anyways, with so many pa’alagis around, Mike (a volunteer who lives on the East side), Josh S and I decided to play tourist and check out the “bizarre” that had been set up down by where the ship was docked. There were about 50 little tents filled with local goods. From hundreds of colored i’es to hand carved weapons, they had everything quintessentially Samoan. Despite many of the items being overpriced (especially on our tight budgets), I did manage to find some better deals than I’ve found anywhere else on the island.

            After our shopping spree, the three of us grabbed a delicious lunch at Rosie’s (a great restaurant that is rarely open when I want it) with Sarah Cleaver, Kristina, Amber (who live on the West side) and Sarah Foley. While the girls went off to do their own thing, us guys headed back to my place and played a rousing game of RISK. Yes, I said RISK. It was hot, we were tired, and all three of us love RISK. It was some nice male bonding since we all live a majority of women.

Later that night, after we had decided to pause RISK because no one was even close to winning (despite what Mike thinks), we met up with some of the other volunteers to celebrate all of the birthday parties. Eventually, we wound up at the Bowling Alley. Despite its name, Bowling Alley is not actually a place to bowl (yes, I was very disappointed as well). It’s a dance club.  Although I’m not the biggest fan of dancing, I had a lot of fun that night. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday with friends.

The next day, Sarah Morgan and I went to Tisa’s with Beth (a teacher at Pacific Horizons which is one of the private schools on island) and Chuck (a chef at the Tradewind’s Hotel). I actually went to Tisa’s during orientation but wasn’t able to write about it because of my lack of computer. Honestly, Tisa’s has to be one of the best places to go in American Samoa because it is basically a huge tiki bar/restaurant with a private beach. Not only are they open on Sundays, but they allow people to swim in normal swimsuits and they have the best pina coladas.

The sign for Tisa's...you know it's going to be awesome!

Tisa's (picture taken in August)

While we were at Tisa’s, we met Beth’s boss, Caroline. As a pa’alagi that is married to a Samoan, is the principal of a private school, and has lived here, on and off, for something like 20 years, she had a lot of great insight into life on the island. She was also very interested to hear about our experiences in the private schools. She was quite shocked by some of the stories we shared. Of course, we told her that it wasn’t all bad. It’s just that the ridiculous moments make the best stories.

After Tisa’s, I went home, kicked back and relaxed because, despite being Sunday, there was no school on Monday. Thank you “Discoverer’s Day”!

On Monday morning, Melanie, Andrea, Stephanie and I made our way to Fagasa to visit Bethany and Raina who teach elementary school over there. Fagasa is actually two villages located on the north side of the island. Being on the north side, there is only one long, steep and winding road that goes there and only one bus ($1.50 one way) that can take you. Unfortunately for the four of us, we missed the bus. Fortunately, there are plenty of friendly people that live in Fagasa that are more than willing to give you a ride and we managed to find one.

Like I said, Fagasa is only two villages which make it a very small place with not too much to do. In fact, the whole tour and adventure took no more than a few hours. Raina and Bethany showed us their house which is very nice, they took us on a quick hike up the side of the mountain behind their house and then we went snorkeling. Besides a really bad sunburn on my back from snorkeling, all-in-all, it was nice, calm way to end a great birthday weekend.

While I could continue on about this past weekend, I think I’ll leave you with a few pictures from my adventures. However, know that another post is soon to follow.

Bethany and Raina's House (they have the top floor)

Fagasa Elementary

Really beautiful view of Fagasa's Harbor