Twenty three

Hello from the older and wiser Sala! I am now officially 23 (and still the youngest volunteer). My 22^nd year of life involved more change than I ever imagined possible, but I’m excited to see what year 23 has in store for me.

I’ve done quite a substantial amount of exploring since my last Samoan blog post. This country really is gorgeous! I was able to see the Papase’ea Sliding Rocks. They’re pretty nifty waterfalls that you can slide down. It was gorgeous!! Of course, me being me, I didn’t end up sliding down any but I figure I still have a while here to try that if I so choose. I also made it back to the Taga Blowholes, which never fail to amaze me. It’s such a gorgeous coastline with water blasting into the air every time there’s a wave!

I'm obsessed!

While my cousin visited, we went all the way to the end of my island. We got to see the last sunset in the country from Fale’alupo. Also down that coast is the Lover’s Leap, which is a legend about a mother and daughter jumping off this very steep and gorgeous cliff. I don’t want to die, so I will never actually jump, but it’s a pretty spot on the coast. We got to see another Samoan legend, Moso’s footprint. The legend is that his right foot is here in Savai’i and his left foot is in Fiji. It was essentially just an indent in the lava rock, but hey it works. One really neat spot at the end of this coast is the Canopy Walk. It involves crossing a bridge made out of ladders connected with cable ties, so it’s a little iffy. We all luckily made it. Once you cross and walk up into the trees, you get a gorgeous view of no man’s land Samoa.

Undeveloped Samoan land.

Along with exploring, I did quite a lot of integrating this summer. I was finally accepted as one of the boys in my family (and super proud of myself for this accomplishment)! As one of the boys, I got to go to our two different plantations. One is rather close, maybe a mile away, and is where we get our coconuts to feed the pigs. I wasn’t allowed to climb the trees (which was a very smart restriction by my family), but I was allowed to carry coconuts back! I brought back 8 coconuts on a stick on my shoulder. My brothers each carry around 20, but 8 was plenty for me. Don’t judge, they’re heavier than they look! Our other plantation is our taro plantation. It’s about 5 miles into the Samoan bush! I honestly would’ve never made it home. There’s so much land that is completely undeveloped here, it would be so easy to be lost for weeks! I’m thankful I had my tour guides (although they decided I couldn’t go to the plantation without my morning tea so yes, they carried a full teapot 5 miles there and 5 miles back, and no I don’t like tea). At the taro plantation, I wasn’t allowed to pick the taro, but I was allowed to weed. I like to tell myself that I saved about 100 taro plants that day. The truth is, they probably would’ve survived even with the vines around them, but I’ll keep telling myself that I helped my family!

I didn't have a camera at the plantation, but here's some of the family!

Once I proved myself at the plantations, my brothers decided it was time to take me fishing! I was ecstatic!! Keep in mind, I am scared of fish, so this was really quite the scene. Our fishing rod was a bamboo stick with mosquito wire tied to it. First, we had to go in the river and catch crawfish for bait. This part wasn’t too bad, but then I was in charge of holding the LIVE crawfish. I had to break them open (still alive) and pull out the meat to use for bait. I tried to be manly, but was definitely out of my comfort zone. Catching the fish was surprisingly easy!! They love crawfish meat, I guess. We caught a total of 6 fish! The one time I was in charge of the bamboo pole, I accidentally flung the pole up and the fish got caught in a tree (oops). Needless to say I wasn’t the best fisherwoman, but I held my own! The fishing trip came to a halt when I caught an eel. Remember how I’m scared of fish? Well, just imagine how I am with eels! One word: no. I held it together pretty well until the eel scenario. Once I pulled up the bamboo and saw the eel, I flung it around and started screaming. The eel got off the hook and essentially became a snake in the grass! This didn’t help the situation and during my panic I actually mis-stepped and nearly fell into the river. My brother ended up tackling me and then finding the eel (heaven forbid we go home without it). So, all in all, we came back with 5 fish, 1 eel, and a couple bruises.

My fishing partner, our fishing rod, and our catch!

To finish off this summer, I had an amazing birthday celebration!! Myself and ten other volunteers rented an island (CASUAL)! Samoa has a bunch of smaller, uninhabited islands and one off the coast of Upulu has huts on it and can be rented. The island is called Namu’a and it is actual paradise. There’s no electricity and you sleep in open huts right on the sand. It was literally just the 11 of us – we actually had our own private island! We made bonfires on the beach at night and went snorkeling in the crystal clear water during the day. We made homemade kanjam and had card games going as well. It was such an incredible celebration! There’s a makeshift path up to the top of the island that we walked up. At the top, you can see 3 other Samoan islands; it’s absolutely breathtaking! There’s also a colony of bats that live up there, which weren’t exactly my favorite. Namu’a is small and secluded, but actually turns out to be bigger than you would think. We thought it would be awesome to walk around our own private island (duh), but that idea didn’t turn out so well. We made it about halfway around when we realized how dangerous it was with the tide coming in. It was us against the Pacific Ocean, which didn’t seem like a good battle to fight so we turned around and luckily made it back safely. Maybe one day at low tide I’ll make it fully around!

Not a bad way to spend a 23rd birthday!

In conclusion, Samoa is beautiful and I had a wonderful first birthday here! I’ve still been teaching all summer and we currently have 2 weeks left of the term. Unfortunately, we lost 5 volunteers this summer. Four went back to the States for medical reasons, but it’s still sad to lose members of our group. I lost my best friend, who I went to New Zealand with, so the rest of my time will be different without her. We now have 14 volunteers left and only 5 on my island.

Forever missing my Samoan twin.

Here we go, year 23!

Culture shock

Two years ago, I solo traveled around New Zealand and fell in love with the country. At the time, it was my favorite place in the world. Well, I’ve recently verified that. I’m still in love with NZ! As Peace Corps Volunteers, we get 2 days off per month, which we can save and add together for a total of 48 days during our two years. It’s not much when I think about wanting to travel back to the States for Christmas and also wanting to explore the South Pacific. But, another volunteer and I decided to use some of our days and give ourselves a trip to New Zealand during the Term Two break.

Annise and I started in Auckland, on the North Island. We were immediately in culture shock and climate shock. It’s currently winter in NZ, so coming from our hot humidity to wearing long pants was quite different! In Auckland, we saw the famous SkyCity tower and walked down to the water to see the Harbour Bridge. Nine months in Samoan villages makes Auckland seem like the biggest city in the world!

So many tall buildings!

From Auckland, we went to Matamata to tour Hobbiton. I’ve never seen any of the movies and opted out of this tour on my first trip to New Zealand, but it was so worth it! Without any movie references, the set was still incredible! It’s located on acres and acres of rolling hills, which are just stunning. We got to learn so much about the creation of the Hobbit houses and all of the scenery for the movies. It was a great day!

We're too tall for the Hobbit houses!

We then made our way to Rotorua. This is a town full of geysers, bubbling mud, geothermal pools, and sulfur! You can smell the sulfur from anywhere in town – it’s pretty crazy. We made our way to Te Puia, which is a geothermal site on the edge of town. The geyser there was insane! Then, we went to the Redwoods, which is a different part of Rotorua, completely full of Redwood trees. Rotorua is pretty neat because you can go from geysers to a forest in a matter of minutes. It made for some great exploring!

Sulfur steaming in the air!

Our next stop was Wellington. Auckland felt like a huge city when we arrived, but Wellington was essentially New York City to us. It’s huge!! There were so many buses, trains, skyscrapers, etc. I was pretty overwhelmed. This is the southern most point of the North Island, so we caught the ferry to the South Island. Annise and I both live on Savai’i, Samoa, so anytime we have training or want to do shopping, get groceries, etc., we have to take our ferry to Upolu. It’s 1.5 hours of feeling like you might flip at any given time. We boarded the Wellington ferry skeptical at best, but we were blown away. This was a cruise!! There were cushioned seats, tables, and televisions. Not once during the ride could I ever feel that we were on the water. It was incredibly smooth. It was also insanely gorgeous. Once arriving to the South Island, the boat was weaving among mountains until reaching Picton. It’s safe to say that was our best ferry ride in 9 months!

The view approaching the South Island.

From Picton, we went to Christchurch. The drive was incredible. Each way you turn, there are rolling green hills and tons of sheep. I could drive the hills of NZ forever; the views would never get old! Christchurch is another large city. I never got used to the big cities coming from Samoa – it was still culture shock every time. In Christchurch we found the beautiful botanical gardens. There were flowers, fountains, and a peace bell. It was a great city to walk around!

Picture perfect New Zealand hills.

Next stop was Dunedin. This was one of my favorite places on my first trip to New Zealand and that remained true this visit. I love Dunedin! The Cadbury chocolate factory is located there, so we got to tour it! I definitely felt like I was Charlie in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. The smell was incredible. We got to see a literal ton of chocolate be poured into a machine and got to try every type of chocolate they had (the best part)!

Posing with the Cadbury car!

Our final destination was Queenstown. We made it just in time for the closing of the Winter Festival (which we had no idea about). We arrived to a motorcycle show with men flipping in the air and then landing, giving me heart palpitations! There were also live bands and lots of crafts. We got to see a man drawing with sand, which is actually much cooler than it sounds. Also in Queenstown, we took a gondola up the mountain to overlook the town. It is absolutely breathtaking! Since it’s winter, there was snow on the mountaintops above the lake. I couldn’t convince myself to leave!

The amazing Queenstown!

All in all, New Zealand was incredible!! It was even more amazing going there from nine months in Samoa. Hot showers and actual restaurants were such a great feeling. We ate so much cheese and chocolate, just because they actually exist there! The trip was of course much too short, but a great halfway point to the school year.

Now back to Samoa and it’s time for Term Three to begin!

Bridesmaids

Term two is officially over, meaning I’ve survived half the school year! That’s crazy. I’m almost at 9 months in Samoa and it does not seem possible. It somehow turned out to be a busy term, so this will be a rather long post. It’s going against everything I believe in blog posts because I would never sit and read this long of a post, but here we go anyways. Thanks for reading!

School had some exciting moments this term. The U.S. Embassy contacted me and arranged to bring the dance group iLuminate to visit! They came in third place on America’s Got Talent. They’re the group who dances in the dark with lights on their costumes. Anywho, it was awesome! They came and performed at my school and then my students got to teach them some Samoan dances. It was one of those surreal moments seeing two cultures come together through dance.

My students dancing with iLuminate!

I was also busy this term when I got invited to work with the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture (MESC). It’s an honor to be attending meetings with the directors of education for an entire country! MESC is bringing six of us volunteers on board to do professional development. We’ll be training teachers on literacy and numeracy along with creating assessments to be used with both. It’s pretty crazy to think that I’m involved in creating a math assessment for an entire country!! I’ve been missing my math, so this is the perfect cure.

MESC professional development team.

More exciting school news came when I attended a training with SolarSPELL. Professor Laura Hosman and Bruce Baikie flew all the way to Samoa with solar paneled digital libraries and tablets for all Peace Corps Group 87 volunteers. This library requires no Internet connection or electricity! It is pre-programed with all different resources targeted for developing countries, and more specifically, Samoa! There are teaching resources for every subject as well as Wikipedia and a Medical Dictionary. I am amazed at how much time and energy was put into designing the contents and hand-building each SolarSPELL that was brought to Samoa! I’ve already begun professional developments in my school to train my teachers how to use it and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year will bring.

Thanks Dr. Hosman!!

Along with school life, my family life was also quite busy recently. My host cousin got married!! I was able to attend a wedding with my Sa’anapu family during training, but it wasn’t a real Samoan wedding because the bride was from New Zealand. This time I got the full experience! The pre and post wedding ceremonies were all held on my family compound, so we had lots of weeding and painting to do to prepare! My Kingsley Pines professional painting skills came in handy as I painted every chair and bench in our four family houses. I’ve never seen more fine mats, pigs, cows, and corned beef than I did the week of the wedding, and the ceremony hadn’t even happened yet! To my surprise, I was chosen as a bridesmaid, which was such an honor. Of course, I had no clue what this meant. The night before the wedding was the dress rehearsal, where my partner and I perfected our walk down the aisle. He had to kneel and I had to put beads on his head! Don’t worry, I crushed it. At around midnight I saw my dress for the first time and had my dress fitting. I’m not sure what we would have done if it didn’t fit since the wedding was 8 hours away, but all worked out. I guess it’s tradition to not sleep before the wedding because that night we also learned four new dances to be performed. Needless to say, I was quite exhausted when the actual wedding came around. I seemed to do everything right and as far as I can tell my host cousin got married. Of course I didn’t understand much, so it’s still unclear. After the church ceremony, there was lots of food, cake, and dancing. All in all, it was a very fun experience and I’m super happy I was able to be part of it! 

All pink everything!!

To finish off this massive blog post, I also had family visitors!!! My real, American cousin came to Samoa with her husband and four kids. Her husband is Samoan, so that just happened to work out in my favor. I went to stay on their family compound in Lotofaga, Upolu and then they were able to come to Sili! My host family was ecstatic and we had a dance night where my real family showed Hawaiian dances and my host family showed Samoan dances. It was another neat instance of two cultures coming together through dance! Having family visitors is so incredible – thank you, Maile!

My American/Samoan visitors!

In other news, I'm off to New Zealand! Fā Sāmoa.

All the eels

Well, Term Two started with a bang (and by bang, I mean massive cyclone). Cyclone Amos headed straight for Samoa and sent Peace Corps Washington into a panic. We were brought to our national consolidation point, which is a sturdy hotel in Apia. Three volunteers had to be helicopter rescued because the ferry shut down before they could make it over (pretty epic). Once we were in the hotel, the roof was strapped down and planks of wood were nailed to our windows. We weren’t allowed to leave our rooms, although I didn’t mind. I took this opportunity to take at least 6 hot showers and catch up on sleep. The cyclone luckily veered off and missed Samoa, so it wasn’t nearly as bad as expected. I came home to a flooded room and no electricity, but everyone was safe so no complaints here!

I guess Amos didn't like this road!

I’ve spent more time lately on Upolu (the other island) exploring. I found a real New England-esque hike and felt right at home! Although there are lots of mountains in Samoa, I think Mount Vaea might be one of the only ones with a path that people can go up! The peak of Mt. Vaea is where Robert Louis Stevenson was buried. I guess he was a famous writer, but hey, I was a math major. Anywho, the hike was gorgeous and had a really neat waterfall at the bottom to swim in!

The view at the top of Mount Vaea.

Speaking of waterfalls, I found the Falefa Fall. It’s not nearly as gorgeous as my Afu Aau spot, but I’ll still spend anytime I can chasing waterfalls. The Falefa Fall creates a natural exercise pool because I spent at least half an hour trying to swim up to the waterfall and made no progress (probably a funny scene). I also went to the Piula Cave Pool. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a pool in a cave. It’s a nifty spot, but swimming with an enclosure over my head is a little freaky and once someone spotted an eel, I was out of there!

Picture being trapped treading water in this cave with an eel!

One of my favorite spots on Upolu is the To Sua Trench. I’ve already been here, but it was certainly worth another trip back (and many more in my two years). It’s a salt water swimming hole formed by the collapse of a lava tube. Swimming in the trench is a surreal experience. For some reason Upolu eels are out to get me, though, so I jumped out of the trench the second an eel was spotted. Maybe someday I’ll overcome my fear of fish, but eels really push that boundary. 

Casually swimming in a lava tube!

In other news, I promise I do actually teach still. It’s nice being in a real routine and knowing everything about the school procedures now that a term has already passed. With the evacuation excitement of the cyclone, I was able to catch up with many other volunteers and it’s super interesting to hear about the different experiences we’re all having. My group unfortunately lost another volunteer who decided to go home. We’re down to 19, which isn’t too shabby. I truly cherish the time I get to spend with other volunteers (and try to convince them to come to Afu Aau Waterfall as much as possible).

My favorite getaway spot!

There's only 6 weeks left of this term and then I'll be heading to New Zealand!

The evil mosquito

Several things about this blog post make me feel like a real Peace Corps volunteer. First and foremost, April 1^st, 2016 marked 6 months of living in Samoa! It’s insane that I’ve spent half a year here already. That’s 2.2% of my life (yes, I’m missing my daily math)! With half a year gone, I feel like I’m really a part of this country now.

Another unfortunate occurrence that makes me a real volunteer is that I officially got Zika (the mosquito illness). As a volunteer in Samoa, it’s a right of passage to get Dengue, Chickengunya, or Zika. They all come along with the territory. Luckily, Zika is the mildest of all. With that being said, it was still not fun. I had a 6.5 hour journey between islands before I could even see the medical director and then 6.5 hours home as well. The disease only lasted about a week and I survived, but I’m hoping not to get any other sicknesses while being here!

My beautiful Zika skin (head to toe).

With the 6-month mark, April 1^st was also the last day of Term One! There are four terms in the school year, so I’m ¼ of the way through the year. Teaching has been going really well and my library is still a huge hit. Easter involved an entire week of dance choreography instead of classes. The lack of separation between church and state was very apparent when a student was being strapped to the cross as Jesus. These kids are great singers and dancers, though, so it makes for a wonderful performance!

Jesus on the cross for our Easter production!

With the end of each term comes a two week break!! No matter how much I’m enjoying teaching, it’s always nice to get a break. I spent a weekend staying in beach fales (huts) and snorkeling with some other volunteers. It was great to celebrate the end of term one and beginning of break! There was real snorkeling on this part of the island, which was really cool. I’m absolutely terrified of fish and learned quickly that screaming in a snorkel doesn’t exactly work. While staying here, I ran into a camp counselor of mine from 7 years ago. She’s from Ireland, so you can just put together that coincidence yourself. It was crazy!!! Even living on the other side of the world, I’m still amazed at how small it is.

It's hard to smile in a snorkel.

The first week of break, I spent at Gataivai Primary School (two villages away) helping out with a camp. Myself and 5 other volunteers helped run an “Olympics” Camp! There were about 100 kids who attended and they got to learn all about different countries and sports. We had an opening ceremony and everything! I even demonstrated ribbon dancing and looked like a real ballerina (I hope you laughed when you read that).

Some kids with their Olympic medals (and some sore losers).

The second week of break, the Gautavai volunteer (one village away) and I ran our own camp. I chose some of my best students and walked them to Gautavai Primary School in the mornings to meet up with her students. We ran an “A Healthier You” camp dealing with washing your hands, brushing your teeth, exercising, and nutritional eating habits. The walk is only a little over two miles each way; however, it does involve braving the Sili River. I like to think that I have become an absolute pro at this river. On the down side, the first day of our camp involved torrential downpour and all my students and I fell in the river. In hindsight, it was hilarious, but at the time when I had to use a stick to pull a kid away from the waterfall drop, it was a little terrifying. Needless to say, I’m no longer as cocky about my river-crossing abilities.

I love my students!

All in all, it was a great first term and break. It’s really refreshing how much students love school and blows my mind that they were ecstatic to walk over 4 miles each day to school to learn how to brush their teeth when they could have been enjoying some down time.

Bring it on, Term Two!

Padre comes to town

As the youngest Peace Corps volunteer in Samoa, I have to be the princess of the group. I was able to defend this title by being the first to have a visitor! My real, American dad came for the first week of March and it was amazing.

Arguably one of the best parts about my dad visiting was having a car. We were able to go wherever and do whatever, which was a weird feeling for me. He flew into Apia, the capitol, and we spent that weekend driving around Upolu (the smaller of the two main islands of Samoa). We went to my training village, Sa’anapu, and I showed him my two houses from training. It was nothing like what he expected, so I’m glad he was able to see it all in person! We then drove around the whole island and I got to see the beauty of it all. We drove through mountains and along amazing beaches. We also came across a really giant waterfall that was drop-dead gorgeous!

The incredible Sopoaga Waterfall!

While on Upolu we also got to go to To Sua Trench, which is one of the big tourist attractions of Samoa! It’s a huge swimming hole that actually connects to the ocean. The water is crystal clear and you climb down a steep ladder to swim. The Trench is located on the southern corner of Upolu and the coastline is also gorgeous! You can see two of Samoa’s other islands right off the coast. I had never been to this part of the island, so it was neat to see.

Come visit and I'll take you here!

After a touristy weekend, we boarded the ferry back to Savai’i (my island). We bought Dad a Samoan outfit (skirt included) so that he would be appropriately dressed for meeting my family. When we arrived in Sili, my family was ecstatic! The pastor had to come over to bless my dad’s visit and eat lots of taro with us. Dad got his own mosquito net to sleep in and everything! He stayed with my family for the first half of the week and was able to get a reasonably accurate view of my life. We prayed on our knees every night, ate one of my beloved chickens, and definitely didn’t shower the whole time.

My host parents don't always smile in photos.

Not only did Dad get to meet my lovely family, he also got to experience school. My school was aware of my dad’s arrival and planned an entire assembly for him. We arrived at school and sat in front of the assembly hall. The students performed songs and dances to welcome my dad and unfortunately we also had to dance! Samoan dancing is a little tricky and my dad didn’t quite get the hang of it (no offense, Padre). My teachers were a little critical, but it was hilarious! He was presented gifts and then we were fed a huge feast for lunch. School was dismissed after the assembly that day, so the children were happy.

My goofy teachers were very excited to meet my dad!

The visit worked out perfectly because Samoa’s Prime Minister election was the week my dad came, so we had a short week at school. With the days off for the election, my dad and I drove around the entire island of Savai’i! We checked out the Afu Aau waterfall and Alofa’aga blowholes. It was my fourth or fifth time to the waterfall (my favorite spot), but I had never been to the blowholes! They were super neat, but also terrifying! Anytime a wave comes in, the blowhole shoots water into the air with a loud noise. I don’t always react well to loud noises (blow horns especially), so I was a little panicked. A Samoan came out and threw coconuts into the blowhole so that when it blew, the coconuts came shooting out! It was such a cool part of nature to witness.

I wouldn't dare go that close to the blowhole.

As we drove around Savai’i, we were able to stop and see some other volunteers! My dad met 11 in total and we delivered little goody bags of candy from America. It was great to catch up with other volunteers and see the pure happiness that candy brings! All in all, my dad’s visit was incredible! It was the perfect mix of vacation and culture. He finally could understand some of this experience and I finally could describe it! My entire village loved having him and so did I. It was the perfect refresher after 5 months of change!

Dad's missing his skirt in this one!

Thanks for visiting, Padre!

The miracle of childbirth

Hello from Miss Sala! School is now in full swing and I officially know what my next two years will look like, so it’s been fun setting up a routine and getting used to teaching.

My cute, little Sili Primary School!

By the time I’m ready every morning, students are waiting at my driveway to walk to school with me. My five siblings who go to Sili Primary School are also waiting outside my door, so I have a nice group escort. We usually begin the day with a morning assembly of songs and prayer. Then, it’s off to teaching. I have ten groups of 8-11 students each. I teach all of year 4, all of year 5, and half of year 6, which makes for 99 students in total. I teach on a rotating schedule and I see four groups per day. It’s complicated, but my math major brain loved designing it.

Miss Sala's nicely decorated classroom.

Thanks to a wonderful donation from the U.S. Ambassador, I have a mini library within my classroom. I also created a schedule for students to come read during lunch and after school. They line up at my door and are nearly in tears if it’s not their day to read. It’s somewhat insane how much students love school here, but it’s very refreshing.

My mini reading corner.

So, school is wonderful. The children are little angels and it’s been super fun getting started. My home life is still ever changing and unpredictable. One day, I came home from church to a woman giving birth in my house (right outside my bedroom door). It was a cool process. I was in charge of feeding the midwife and setting up some fine mats for the birth. Two hours later there was an adorable baby boy! I made some sort of leaf drink for the mother post-birth and it was smooth sailing from there.

The inside of my house (scene of the birth)!

Weather in the middle of the South Pacific is another unpredictable thing. We had an earthquake, so that was cool. My whole bed started shaking! We also welcomed Cyclone Winston to the island. The immense amount of rain put a halt to my laundry, making for a very long week of smelly clothes. We do laundry in buckets and hang it outside to dry, so rain really ends that possibility.

Group 87 is now all separated doing our own things, but it’s still very fun to meet up and hear how everyone is doing. We spent Valentine’s Day at a resort and I took full advantage of the hot water and air conditioning! My hair hadn’t been shampooed since Christmas, so this hot water was a true blessing. Unfortunately, one more member of our group decided to go back to the States. So, we’re down to 20, which isn’t a bad number. Group 86 still has 10 members here, so Peace Corps Samoa is at a solid 30 altogether (I’m the youngest, of course).

Valentine's Day sunrise over the Pacific.

That’s all for now because… MY DAD IS HERE!!