From pink to green

April 1^st will officially mark one and a half years in Samoa! I can’t believe in 9 months my service will be complete. It’s been quite the journey, to say the least.

There’s only one week left of school until our term break, which means I’ve made it through my last ever Term 1 at Sili Primary School. It’s been a very productive term for my classes. My classroom also got revamped! Instead of just concrete floors with woven mats, I now have a linoleum sticker covering the concrete. Samoans call it “carpet”, although I can’t quite agree to that terminology. Whether or not it’s carpet, it still has made a huge difference! The first day I had my new carpet, my students came in and immediately started doing snow angels and rolling around on the floor. It was quite the scene!

We love reading on Miss Sala's new carpet!

This term also involved a first for the Ministry of Sports, Education, and Culture here in Samoa! The ministry organized a sports competition for my district (8 primary schools) in rugby and volleyball. Knowing that the competition was approaching, school ended at lunch every day so that the boys could practice rugby and the girls could practice volleyball. Our hard work seemed to pay off because Sili got fourth place in both sports, which is not too shabby. On the day of the competition, the girls even got to show their knees and wear shorts! This is unheard of in Samoa. It was a very fun day and I have to say I was a great cheerleader!

The cutest volleyball huddle there ever was.

Aside from school, my home life is probably 99% different than it was last year. What used to be a pink house is now a green shop. I was gone for a weekend and when I came back, there was all of a sudden a shop in my house! With Samoa being located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, products and food that can be imported must be very processed in order to make it here. So, Samoan shops mostly sell packets of ramen noodles, tinned fish, and corned beef. Sugar is our other big seller, and that’s about all the shop sells. It’s not quite what Americans would imagine when hearing about a shop. Regardless, my house has now been running as a shop for about a month now. My students find it hilarious to be able to come shopping and see me. I’m too busy with school to really work at the shop, but I’ll help bag sugar when I can. I’m a pro at measuring sugar now!

My new living quarters (shop on the left, bedroom on the right).

I’ve also been able to do more exploring around Samoa recently. It’s hard to believe a year and a half later I still haven’t seen everything, but it’s true! I’m working on it and hopefully will have seen everything by the end. One weekend, a bunch of volunteers and I went on a waterfall hike! It was on a rather undeveloped part of Upolu, hiking up the Falese’ela River. The hike itself was about 6 hours long and probably the coolest hike I’ve done! We were essentially walking through the river the entire time (I was an absolute pro because of my Sili River practice). Throughout the hike, different waterfalls popped up and we ended up jumping off most of them! The craziest part about jumping off waterfalls is climbing up them in the first place. Those who know me know I’m definitely not a rock-climber, so scaling the side of these waterfalls was quite the challenge. However, I think I jumped off about six waterfalls that day, the tallest one being 50 feet high!! Talk about an adrenaline rush. Samoa is so neat because it’s completely undeveloped land and not even marketed or advertised for tourists.

PCV's hiking through a river for 6 hours!

Another exciting thing that happened this month is that my cousin and her family came to visit! This is the second time they’ve visited during my service, the first time being in June. It was so fun to see them again! I’m so lucky I’ve had visitors and gotten to see so much family during my year and a half so far. While they were visiting, we went to Togitogiga Waterfall, which was another first for me! It’s on the southern coast of Upolu and it’s in a national reserve. Yet again another instance of gorgeous and untouched waterfalls! It was so fun to explore and see my American family members again.

Thanks for visiting again, Maile and family!

As the term comes to a close, I am packing my bag and heading to Rarotonga, Cook Islands next week for break! How lucky am I that I get to explore the South Pacific so much?!

Time for some island hopping!

Young and skinny

Second year as Miss Sala, here we go! I’ve officially been back in Samoa for almost two months. I don’t know where the time is going!

America already feels like a distant dream and I’m right back into my Samoan life. My host family was extremely happy when I arrived. My entire checked bag was gifts for them! The children all got backpacks and clothes, while the adults got purses and chocolate. It was like Christmas morning (except in Samoa, there is no such thing as gifts on Christmas, so it was even better)! I showed them pictures from my trip back home and they didn’t recognized me! Apparently seeing my hair down was a big shocker!

"Wait, Sala, who is the girl in red?"

While home, I got a mini fishing rod for Christmas, so I’ve tested out the waters. So far I’ve caught three fish, but the most impressive thing is that I cut up one of the fish to use as bait for the others. Have I mentioned that I’m scared of fish?! Nowadays I can hold a live fish and even cut up a dead one (although, there is still lots of screaming involved). I haven’t broken out my pocket fisherman in Sili yet, but the time will come.

Yes, it's a mini fish, but I'm still terrified!

Upon arriving back in Samoa, Group 87 had our Mid-Service Training. It was at a wonderful resort and it was amazing to be together as a group again. Every day after training sessions, we would go in the ocean until the sun set. The South Pacific is really a great place to watch the sun setting! Our training involved bringing a counterpart from our schools. When the counterparts first arrived, we did an introduction where we had to describe our partner using two adjectives. Most of the pisikoas were described as “hard-working” or “determined”. Well, my counterpart described me as “young” and “skinny”, so I’m really winning at this whole teaching thing.

Group 87 after 16 months in Samoa.

We’re already halfway through the first term of the school year! My students were so happy to be back in school after a two-month break. It’s nice being back this year and already knowing the teachers, the schedule, etc. I feel much more comfortable at school and it really feels like I belong. The teachers and I have our inside jokes. Every morning they laugh at me for running the previous afternoon (it’s really unheard of here) and I in-turn laugh at them for not running. We have a good system of laughing going on! I’m still teaching pullout groups from years 4, 5, and 6. I have a total of 8 at-risk groups and 3 advanced groups. In addition, this year I am co-teaching! So, once a week I teach all of year 7, working together with their teacher. It’s been very fun so far and the students are already learning a lot this year!

Miss Sala's classroom, year 2!

It's hard to believe Miss Sala has only ten months left of this crazy journey!

Land of the free

HOME HOME HOME!! I’m heading back to Samoa today after an incredible 4 weeks in America. It was probably the best and most necessary break of my entire life.

It was quite the process to get from the middle of the Pacific Ocean all the way to Gaithersburg, Maryland. My first flight was from Samoa to Hawaii, where I then stayed with 4 other volunteers for a night at Waikiki Beach. It was probably one of the best days we had ever experienced. The true happiness that came from a hot shower, a real bed, and a salad is indescribable. I then flew from Hawaii to DC during an ice storm, had to emergency land at the wrong airport, etc, etc, but needless to say, I made it home!! I was frozen in Hawaii, so the ice storm was a somewhat shock to my system. This South Pacific islander was not ready for the cold!

My perfect welcome home committee!

I arrived back home just in time for Christmas celebrations. Going 15 months without seeing my mom and sister, and 9 months without seeing my dad, was all way too long. I’m much too close to my family for that! It was amazing to be with my family for Christmas again. We set up a giant tree and very obnoxious lights everywhere, typical Brown family fashion. I thought being home would feel like a foreign world, but I fit right back in and it felt great! Unfortunately, one of my dogs passed away during my service, so it was strange not having my Rascal to snuggle with at night, but other than that home felt pretty normal.

Princess Sala putting the star on the tree.

I loved being able to finally share my pictures, videos, and experiences with my family in person! I got us all matching puletasi’s made (and the male version for my dad). It was hilarious dressing everyone in Samoan clothes and teaching them how to say a Samoan prayer before dinner every night (I crack myself up)! We also had my aunt and cousin visit for Christmas, so it was a real Brown family affair. We went ice skating and hiking, and Samoa started to feel like a distant dream.

Brown family goes Samoan!

After Christmas, I had a series of amazing visitors. It’s so great to reunite with people after 15 months! I got to celebrate New Year’s Eve banging pots and pans again and I appreciated it more than ever before. After spending this holiday period in a foreign place with foreign people last year, it was such a wonderful feeling being surrounded by love this year. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this much happiness in such a short amount of time before. We went to DC, we went to movies, we went to restaurants, we played board games (I won, duh). I embraced America to the fullest and I loved being home more than I ever have before.

I love America!!

All in all, this break taught me that I am so extremely supported and loved!! I have so many friends and family here for me and these 15 months haven’t ruined that. I feel like the luckiest human on the planet because I am able to truly appreciate America, friendships, and family. THANK YOU to all of my visitors and everyone who made my time at home so amazing. I can’t say that it’s easy to leave again for another year, but I can say that I’m leaving with a happy heart and that’s an incredible feeling.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting!!

From Gaithersburg to Sili, I’m off to my final year of Peace Corps service!

Sala day

Happy end of the school year!!! I survived my first year as Miss Sala (and my first year as a teacher in general). December 11^th officially marked one year since swearing in, and therefore one year in Sili. I can’t believe I’ve lived here for a full year and that the school year is over. Only one year left!

The end of the school year was very busy although no teaching was involved. There were many ceremonies, exams, and cultural celebrations. Our Year 5 teacher at Sili Primary School unfortunately passed away. Mau was only 45 and her three children all attended our school, so that was very sad. I was involved with the funeral and quickly remembered that touching and kissing the frozen dead body is a big part of the ceremony here. Rest in Peace, Mau – hopefully I’ve experienced my only Samoan funerals.

Gorgeous Mau (in black and yellow) loved my dad's visit early this year.

The end of the school year in Samoa involves a large ceremony called Prize Giving. Students are ranked 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc. in their class and it’s announced in front of the whole village. I went to three different Prize Givings this year, which added to the busyness. First, my nieces had their ceremony at the high school. I also attended this last year on my first ever visit to Sili. It was nice to be able to watch two years in a row and see how much more comfortable I was this year. One of my niece’s got first place, so I was a proud Auntie! Sili Pre-School also had a Prize Giving, and I was the guest presenter for this one. The village was so happy to have me present the prizes and I was awarded with a pig at the end of it.

Sili's adorable graduating pre-schoolers!

Finally, it was time for my school’s Prize Giving on December 8^th! This event calls in the entire village and lasts the whole day. We teachers got matching puletasi’s (traditional Samoan outfits) made and each had to present our prizes. I presented prizes for the first place student in each of my ten classes. My prizes were extra special because I teach at-risk students, so they’ve never been called for first place in their lives. It was amazing to see how surprised they were and how happy their parents were as well! I presented all of my prizes while speaking Samoan, so I definitely felt like a member of the village. This time I was awarded multiple pigs, chickens, and cow parts. It was a fun way to end the year with my students and village. I’m going to miss my 8^th grade babies so much next year!

My Sili Primary School crew!

Speaking of ending the year with my village, this past Sunday was declared a holiday called Aso Sā Sala (Sarah’s Sunday). My church dedicated the entire day to me. The children ran the service: songs, bible readings, the sermon, the whole nine yards. Each family presented me with a Samoan gift to thank me for my work this year. I then got up and gave a two-page speech in Samoan! I worked pretty hard on the speech and I think my host parents nearly fainted hearing me speak that much Samoan (I am not good at Samoan). Aso Sā Sala was a huge success and I felt incredibly loved by my village! My niece gave a speech about me and started sobbing to the whole congregation. It’s wonderful to know that all of my time spent integrating this year really did work and pay off. I have my own holiday in Sili now!! I can’t imagine what my permanent departure next year will include.

Family selfie on Aso Sā Sala with all of my gifts.

In life outside of Sili, Group 88 swore in and officially moved to their sites and Group 86 departed and became Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. It’s weird being the oldest volunteers here now. We said goodbye to the 9 volunteers who remained in Group 86 and hello to the 20 newbies. Ten got placed on Savai’i, so I’m very excited to make new friends! It’s crazy that this time next year I will be departing for good. It was a fun end of the year in Sili and also with other volunteers. We celebrated Thanksgiving on a private beach swimming with turtles, so we’ve got Samoa figured out at this point. Our second year should be lots of fun and will most likely fly by!

Look at these Peace Corps Samoa pros with only one year left.

I’m currently in the airport awaiting my flight to AMERICA for the first time in 15 months!!!! Tofā Sāmoa, Talofa ‘Amerika!

Girl power

Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) is a worldwide Peace Corps initiative that seeks to empower women and girls through different conferences and camps. It is in coordination with Michelle Obama’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative. In Samoa, Peace Corps volunteers have planned annual GLOW conferences for the past 4 years and I was lucky enough to be part of year #5!

Girls Leading Our World!

GLOW Samoa 2016 brought together 20 volunteers, about 70 girls from years 7 and 8, and 22 women counterparts. We came from 22 different villages spread across 3 islands all to the capitol, Apia, Upolu. For my three beautiful girls and one counterpart, traveling to Apia meant leaving our island and going on the ferry. For some, this was the first time ever leaving Savai’i, which is a huge eye-opening moment! The conference was 4 nights and 5 days. It was held at Papauta Girl’s College (an all girls boarding school in Apia). This is a long time to leave your family when you’ve never left home before. I was so honored to accompany these girls and see the impact of this conference.

My Sili girls with the new Miss Samoa!

Day one was career day. We began by traveling to the Samoa Observer, our national newspaper. We got to see how the newspapers are printed and got to hear from several workers about how they got their jobs and what they do there. It was especially great to hear from the women employees who work for the newspaper, proving that these girls can get jobs! After our field trip, we heard from 4 other working women, what they do, and how they got their jobs. This was a wonderful day for the girls! In Samoa, males hold a lot of power and it’s easy to think that women cannot get jobs, so it’s extra special for these girls to hear that they can in fact have a career.

Field trip to the national newspaper.

Day two was health day! We began by taking the girls to hike Mt. Vaea (where Robert Louis Stevenson is buried). Hiking is a very new thing for these girls, but those that made it to the top were so happy and proud! We went from the mountain to the Moanalisa Hotel for a cooking class! Most of these girls have never been to a hotel either, so it was a very exciting day. The cooking class was all about fruits and vegetables. The girls were missing their taro, but happy to help learn and prepare a new meal. After our lunch, the girls got to swim in the hotel pool! Three girls quickly realized they couldn’t swim and I was happy that I’m still technically a lifeguard. Other than that, they had an absolute blast! We came back from the pool to have a visit from the National Rugby League, and a visit from the Special Olympics. It was a very active day, to say the least.

The Samoan Special Olympics visit!

Day three was ending violence day. Violence against women is a major issue in Samoa in particular and this day was dedicated to showing the girls that it does not need to be “normal”. We heard from many speakers about human rights and how to get help. The girls also had self-defense class from a Judo team!! The members who represented Samoa in the Olympics in Rio came and taught the girls some self-defense moves. It was so much fun! We ended the day with a visit from students at the National University of Samoa with a star-weaving project. Australia has put together a project called “A Million Stars to End Violence” and Samoa has agreed to provide 10,000 of those stars. It was awesome for these girls to be a part of the project!

I'm so proud to be part of this in Samoa.

Those were our three big days, and the others were dedicated to traveling/getting to know each other. This was the first time my girls slept in a building with walls! It was their first time sleeping on a bed and they actually all moved their mattresses to the floor because they didn’t like it. We were essentially at summer camp! We stayed up late chatting and playing card games. It was so wonderful for girls from all different villages to be able to meet each other. The girls and counterparts were blown away with the fact that they didn’t have chores to do, so they would diligently clean every building every morning without being asked to. It was such an incredible experience bringing my girls out of Sili and they learned more than I could have imagined!

Me, Leātivā, Momoli, Melissa, and Meaalofa from Sili!

I’m sad our week of summer camp is over, but thankful to be part of such meaningful work here! 

The newbies are here

Happy October (well, now it's technically time for "Goodbye October")! So I guess I really have been in Samoa for over a year, but it’s still blowing my mind. For those of you still following this journey, thank you for sticking with me for a whole YEAR now!

One year dinner with 13 Group 87 members and one Response volunteer!

Group 88 arrived on October 4^th, which really signified the fact that we are now the old and wise ones. One of our medically evacuated volunteers was able to return, so Group 87 is back up to 15. Group 88 came with 21 newbies. They are now in Pre-Service Training, but I am very excited for them to swear in so I can get to know them! Hopefully some will be placed in villages around me, but either way it’ll be nice to have more Americans around. We welcomed their group with an Ava Ceremony and it felt so neat to be on the other side this year. I understood what was being said and done, whereas last year it felt so strange and foreign. It’s crazy to think that one year later I perceived the exact same ceremony in a completely different way. It was entirely normal to me this year!

Group 88 Ava ceremony with 14 Group 87 and 3 Group 86 members.

October in Samoa features the biggest holiday of the year: White Sunday! Growing up, I always wondered why Mother’s and Father’s got their own day, but there was no Children’s Day. Well, Samoa has that figured out because White Sunday is Children’s Day. It’s a day where the children all get new church outfits and lead the church service. Last year in Sa’anapu, I was part of a dance and a play, which made me so nervous; I remember feeling completely out of my comfort zone. This year, I was part of 4 dances and a play, but none of it phased me at all! I’m so used to Samoan performances now. My entire church applauded me after my 2 lines in the play, so they still find it hilarious to have me perform. I did a pretty darn good job, if I do say so myself (and this year I even understood it).

Sala answers the telephone!

We are about halfway into Term 4 now. Samoan standardized tests have begun and it’s mostly preparation for the end of the school year. Standardized testing is a huge deal here in terms of food preparation. We had two visitors administering the tests, so naturally myself and the other teachers spent an entire week preparing meals for them. There were at least 4 pigs and 7 chickens each day that we had to hack up in the teachers’ room; it was quite the scene! Testing lasted about 4 hours each day and the visitors got 5 meals in that time. I’m not sure how the children did on the tests, but at least the visitors weren’t hungry. One morning they even got Palolo! Once a year (every October), Palolo come up from the sea. I’m not sure what they actually are (and don’t have internet to check), but they’re basically bright blue sea worms. Palolo is a very fancy meal here and a huge deal. This year I tried it for the first time! I won’t pretend that eating live worms was fun in the slightest bit, but here’s to me being a true Samoan!

Mmmm nothing like worms for breakfast.

Aside from casually hacking up pigs and eating live worms, I still have some American left in me! Today, I went to coordinate with the volunteer in the village next to mine (Ga’utavai) and we threw a Halloween party for the kids. Halloween is completely unknown here, so we were really combining cultures. The kids absolutely loved making costumes, carving pumpkins, and going trick-or-treating. These are the really fun moments where I’m able to share my childhood with my students.

Miss Sala and Miss Tiana as Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Happy Halloween, America! In six weeks, I’ll have officially survived my first year as a teacher.

One year later

ONE YEAR ago today I boarded a plane for Staging in Hawaii! I cannot believe it’s been a full year since I left – this is definitely a huge milestone! Also, Term 3 has come to a close, meaning I’m ¾ of the way through my first year as a teacher! This term I got a lot done within the classroom and really found my groove with teaching primary school, so I’m looking forward to finishing off the year strong.

My precious students during class.

This term featured Literacy Week, which was an entire week essentially dedicated to our mission as Peace Corps Volunteers. It was exciting to promote reading within the whole school! We even had a district competition, featuring a guest appearance by Miss Samoa. We had other district get-togethers (about 8 primary schools), including a Cricket tournament and a professional development day for the teachers. The professional development was extra exciting for me because it was the trainings I had prepared with the Ministry of Education! It was really rewarding seeing our trainings in Apia being executed to the villages.

Miss Samoa reading to the students!

This term, a volunteer two villages away completed a grant for a Creative Learning Center and I was able to help her with it. She obviously did all the work, but after school I would run to her village and help paint. Those of you who know me know that I’m the least creative person there is, but for some reason she trusted me with a paintbrush! It was really exciting for her village and I got to attend the grand opening as well.

Gataivai's new Creative Learning Center!

With my downtime recently, I’ve been spending lots of time at the plantation and doing other Samoan chores. I learned how to make cocoa from the seeds, I perfected my machete skills, and I also improved my carrying coconuts ability. Aside from plantation time, at home I’ve been learning how to make Samoan mats. This is quite the process! So far I’ve learned how to get the leaves ready (trim them, cook them, dry them, and roll them). We haven’t even gotten to the weaving yet! I’m loving the integration and definitely bonding with my family through it all.

Carrying coconuts back home from the plantation.

I was able to have a very nerdy moment away from site as well. A few volunteers and I went on a geology tour of my island (Savai’i). I had seen the island multiple times already (plus I live here), but the tour was wonderful! I learned so much about where I live. To make sure I don’t bore you, I’ll just summarize it. My island is volcanically active and we have over 400 craters. Because of all the volcanic activity, the soil is not old enough for crops to really prosper here, which is why our population is so low. The rise in sea level (from climate change) is actually making Savai’i rise as well. There are parts of the island that have broken off and fault lines where other parts may easily break off as well. Basically, I was wishing I had studied geology! This place is a landmine for it. As part of the tour, we were able to climb the biggest crater on Savai’i: Tofua Crater. Of course, there were plants growing inside of it, but you could still see how deep and wide it was! Living in the crater, there are diurnal bats, meaning we were hiking with bats. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of bats, so I wasn’t too excited that they were awake during the daytime.

On the side of a volcanic crater!

Also on the tour, we went back to several places I love here: the Taga Blowholes, the Saleaula Lava Ruins, etc. I got to see the Letui Peapea Cave for the first time! It wasn’t as crazy as the Dwarf Cave, but still neat to see. Once inside, if you turn off all the flashlights, it really is freaky! I’m not the biggest fan of not being able to see what’s one centimeter in front of my face, so I got out pretty quickly. The geologist tour guide also knew some secret pathways to the coast, which were gorgeous. The coast on this side of the island is all lava rock, which forms really pretty arches as it breaks down over time.

Secret spot on the Savai'i coast.

All in all, ONE YEAR later and I still love exploring and integrating here. There’s always something new to learn and see. I can’t believe it’s been a full year since I’ve been on American soil, but I’ve learned a lot about myself and this beautiful country.

It’s time to welcome in Group 88!