Top Of the World!

            Last week, three volunteers left the island for good. It is weird to think about the fact that they are gone but I can certainly understand why they left. Being so far away from friends and family, trying to teach kids that, more often than not, don’t act like they want to learn and dealing with daily struggle of living on less than minimum wage can really wear you down. It is a struggle and, to be honest, I can’t blame them for coming to the conclusion that there are more important things that they need to be doing with their time. My only hope is that we don’t lose any more volunteers. Over the past 4 months (to the day), I believe that our group has really bonded and I would hate to see anyone else miss out on the amazing experiences that I am sure are still to come.

the group at the start of the trail

Anyways, before Kate and David, the couple from the UK, left, they wanted to hike the Mount ‘Alava Trail which is the second most difficult hike on the island (second to the Mount ‘Alava Adventure Trail…same destination, a lot more actual climbing). So a group of us got together on Saturday to rise to the challenge.

The peak of Mount ‘Alava is 1610 ft above sea level. Luckily, the trail starts at about 500 ft and we managed to hitch a ride all the way to that point. Since the trail runs through the National Park, it is rather wide and not too steep in order to accommodate National Park Service vehicles. What makes the trail so difficult is that it runs about 3 miles along the mountain ridge and, being situated in a rainforest, is extremely muddy. While the hike is supposed to take 2 hours, we clocked our ascent at 1 hr 45 mins. Ok, maybe a lot of people round but I think that is pretty impressive.

Unfortunately, I can’t really describe what I saw on the hike up because, to be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention. It is true that I’ve been here long enough to no longer be fazed by being surrounded by jungle but the reality is that I rarely had a chance to look up. With all of the mud and wet rocks, one false step could’ve landed me face down with a broken wrist or a twisted ankle (I only fell backwards once but caught myself rather quickly). The only choice was to stay focused on my feet. It was rather painful on the neck.

View of Pago from 2/3 of the way up

Of course, I did stop and look up occasionally. Being on the ridge, we were able to see both the North and South side of the island along with miles of open ocean. On our way back down, it was so clear that we could see the ~53 miles to Western Samoa (since they are on the other side of the International Dateline, it was like looking into the future. We could wave to Sunday!)  

Stairs to the Top

The most spectacular part of the hike was, undoubtedly, the peak. After walking for what seemed like hours, surrounded by forest on all sides, the canopy opened to a view of the radio (I think they are radio) towers that rest at the top of the mountain.  Only about 100 yards away, I hastened my walk to catch up with the rest of the group that was already climbing the stairs to the towers.

Tower in the Clouds

When we reached the top, we were a bit disappointed. Clouds had rolled in below us and blocked our view of the villages 1650 feet below. Knowing that clouds move (a commonly understood phenomenon), we sat ourselves on top of the rusted old machine that use to run the cable car that crossed the harbor, ate our lunches (I had a bag of peanuts), and waited…and waited…and waited.

This machine use to pull the cable car

Since our patience didn’t seem to be yielding any positive results, a part of the group decided to explore the top a bit more. What they discovered was that we hadn’t actually completed the trail and that, on the other side of the tower was a fale (traditional Samoan house) with a sign-in book. We all signed our names and wrote “World Teach 2012”. We also discovered that the view had finally cleared and, so, picture taking ensued. After taking a group picture, we made our descent.

View when the clouds cleared

The descent wasn’t all that bad. Only took us about an hour and fifteen minutes but I was famished. Having only eaten a handful of peanuts in 5 hours, I had to get some food in me before I passed out. Unfortunately, despite eating a huge plate of Hawaiian BBQ, when I got home, I still needed to take a nap. I was so drained that I slept for the next 3 hours. Even though it took a lot out of me, I really enjoyed the hike. Spending so much time cooped up in my classroom and my house, it felt great to get out and really accomplish one of the many goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. While the Adventure Trail is also on that list, I don’t think I’ll be doing that one any time soon. EVENTUALLY!

the group sitting under the fale at the top

As for my classroom, I think I finally reached “real classroom” status last Tuesday (Luckily, I didn’t have my formal WorldTeach evaluation until Wednesday). Nope, I’m still teaching in a room that was built as a chemical storage room. BUT, about a month ago, they fixed the air conditioning. Oh, what a joyous day that was. I was the only one still in the building when they fixed it and I immediately called one of my co-workers to have her spread the news. It made all of our days. Then, on Tuesday, I finally got tables and chairs. As my college roommates know, I love arranging furniture so, after school that day, I got right to it (I had to restrain myself from starting at lunch time). A couple of my students came after school to help me and, within a half hour, my room was transformed into a classroom. Yes, I know that a classroom isn’t defined by four walls, AC, desks and chairs but, hey, those things don’t hurt!

My classes have definitely been getting better. My students are really starting to get a hang of my expectations for them and I am slowly getting better at tailoring my lessons and expectations to their needs. For instance, a lot of my students have an attendance problem which means that they miss a lot of work. Last quarter, I would occasionally remember to remind students that they were missing work but, if they weren’t there that day, they would find out what they were missing. So, I put up a “missing work” board. I update it weekly (at least) and it lets the students know how much work they are missing. If they want to know the precise work, they need to come see me at lunch or after school.  So far, it is working a little bit better but, with everything, there is a learning curve. Slow and steady, right?

As the Thanksgiving weekend approaches, I will be headed to Manu’a (the smaller group of islands that make up American Samoa). I won’t be in contact from Wednesday to Sunday (at the earliest…the plane is a bit iffy with its schedule). So, I would just like to wish everyone reading this a Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all of you! (except for you…you know who you are.)

Before I conclude, I would like to leave you with my favorite student quote thus far. This one comes from one of my Reading students when she discovered that our topic of discussion for the day was “how to conjugate the verb ‘To Have’”

“But, Mr. Feak, we teached verbs in English class!” :) Oh, my students!

When In Samoa...

The last few weeks have been very eventful—Samoan style! Maybe we just weren’t integrated enough to be aware of the festivities going on before but October seemed to be filled with traditional (and not so traditional) Samoan celebrations.

The Mr. & Ms. Samoana Pageant

At the beginning of each year, each class gets to vote for their class representatives, a boy and a girl who are given the title of Mr. & Ms. :insert grade level:. One of my Physical Science students is Ms. Freshman. However, each school must also select their school representatives, Mr. & Ms. :insert school name:. These two students are chosen based on the results of a pageant and represent the school at various island functions. While many of the other schools had their pageant during an in-school assembly, our school used the event as a fundraiser for the Senior class (only seniors are allowed to compete).

My student is Ms. Freshman

Intrigued about what the pageant would entail and with not much else to do on a Friday night, my roommates and I went down to the gymnasium to check it out. Even though we got there a bit late, the place was still pretty empty (In Samoa, nothing starts on time. When someone tells you when an event is, they will tell you the scheduled start time followed by the Samoan time. It is usually a half hour to an hour later than scheduled). But, by the time the show had started, the place was packed. It was standing room only.

            The show opened with a rather non-traditional dance, six boys wearing only their i’es, their upper bodies covered in oil, dancing to Move Your  Body by Beyoncé. It was quite an intro. Once they had finished their dance, the contestants came on stage and did a much more traditional dance, a Siva Samoa.

Traditional Samoan Wear

            The pageant was broken up into five categories: fashionable wear, animal wear, talent, Q&A and formal wear. Obviously, animal wear was the most interesting. Each pair chose one animal and wore a costume to represent that animal. There were tigers, lions, birds, and wolves. Some of the costumes were so intricate and well done. I was very impressed.

            In between each category, while contestants changed and prepared for the next category, various groups of students performed their Samoan dances. One of my female students is actually in this video I took. (If you watch closely, you’ll notice that members of the audience keep walking to the stage and throwing something at the performers. Apparently, in Samoan culture, when you like a performance, you throw money on the stage. I can only imagine how a Broadway performer would react if the audience threw money at them in the middle of their monologue.)

            Before the pageant, I don’t think I’d really seen a siva Samoa and I don’t think that there are any good comparisons to dances in other cultures. I think Wikipedia describe the dance best when it says, “It requires the dancer to retain grace; movement of the arms and hands are done so in a subtle but delicate manner.”

Animal Wear--Wolves

The Winners in their Formal Wear

By far, my favorite talent

Students doing the Thriller dance

White Sunday

            The next big Samoan festivity that I went to was only two days after the pageant but it was oh-so different.

            Every second Sunday in October, Samoans celebrate White Sunday or “Lotu Tamaiti” which means “children’s service”. And it is, literally, that. It is the one day of the year that Samoan families and communities come together to celebrate children and childhood. Although not technically a church event, all of the festivities take place at the church.

            On White Sunday, the children dress in very fancy white dresses and suits. Which, of course, meant that, for weeks before hand, every store had a huge sale on white clothing and that, on the Saturday before White Sunday, every store was PACKED with people. Unfortunately, I found this out the hard way.  I thought it might be a nice gesture to buy a white i’e instead of wear the white pants that I brought with me but, when I went shopping, I could barely move around the store let alone find what I was looking for. After trying two stores, I had to give up. It was so crowded.

            At first, the church service seemed pretty typical. I mean, the entire service is in Samoan so I don’t really know the difference between an announcement and a prayer but, other than some decorations at the altar, it seemed like business as usual. That was, until the children of the village took over. All dressed in white, the children (ranging from Kindergarten to High School) put on a fantastic hour and a half show of singing and dancing. They even acted out scenes from the Bible. It was very cute and they had clearly put a lot of time and effort into it. I even threw a little money at them—real Samoan style.

Despite the slightly excessive length (some of the high school students apologized after the service), it was great to see all of the kids up there, center stage, for once. In Samoan culture, children actually are seen and not heard. Despite having lived here for over a month and walking pass some of them on a daily basis, the most I can get out of most of the children in the village is “hi” and “bye”.  Only the high school students will answer my, “how are you?” and, even then, that’s about it. So, it was great to see these kids up there, feeling like they were not only being seen but also heard. It helped me understand part of the reason why my students might be so talkative during class. Other than White Sunday, school is one of the few places they are allowed to talk freely. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to stop them from talking freely while I’m talking!

The Tatau Festival

Ms. American Samoa in Ceremonial Wear

For those of you with tattoos, you can thank the Samoan culture for, at least, the word which originates from the Samoan word of the same meaning, tatau. Tatau is an ancient Samoan art and, every last weekend in October, Tisa’s Barefoot Bar throws a huge festival that is streamed around the world. Obviously, the WorldTeachers couldn’t resist. Almost every single one of us came to check it out.

Anyone who gets squeamish around needles or thinks that they are “hardcore” because they got a tattoo in the states, you haven’t seen or done anything until you’ve watched or gotten a Samoan tatau. An original tatau can only be given by a few master tattooists and involves hours of having the ink, literally, tapped onto your skin using tools made of sharpened bone.

Don’t worry, I didn’t get a tatau. However, Chuck (the chef at the Tradewinds Hotel), Mike and Melanie (another volunteer) did. I even managed to get some of Chuck’s tattoo on video. Check it out and realize that that is completely free hand. Despite my aversion to tattoos, these masters do a truly amazing job.

Even though I didn’t get a tattoo at the tattoo festival, I had a lot of fun spending time with the group. We sat on the beach, talked about life, stood in the ocean drinking a few drinks and saw our first ‘ava ceremony.

Serving the 'ava.
The tattoo on his back is called a Pe'a. It runs from
his waist to his knees and is done completely by tap. Some people
have bled to death getting this tattoo. It is a sign of great respect and courage.

In Samoan culture, every truly important social event/celebration begins with the ‘ava ceremony. According to my sources (Wikipedia.org), “the ‘ava beverage is made from the dried roots of the plant Piper methysticum and mixed with water before it is strained for drinking”. The ‘ava is prepared in a very ritualistic manner in a bowl known as a tanoa (featured on the American Samoan crest) and served from a cup  (ipu tau ʻava) that is made from half of a coconut shell. Although the ‘ava is prepared and presided over by a female (in this case, Ms. American Samoa), typically, only males are permitted to drink it. In this case, they seemed to make an exception as many women were allowed to partake. It was quite a fascinating ritual and, although the drink can have some rather negative effects, it is a very big honor to be served a cup.

Mike getting his tattoo. Something only a geologist would understand.