Time to teach

Hello from 2016! Cyclone Ula on New Year’s Eve turned out to be nonexistent, which was a great way to start the year. Regardless, it was a New Year’s to remember. My village has four separate churches: Methodist, Mormon, Catholic, and EFKS. However, on the first day of the year, we all came together for one church service. We held hands and sang songs, which was really neat because it was my entire village coming together! So, Christmas and New Year’s both turned out to be really loving, community-based holidays in this culture.

So far in 2016, I’ve really been able to explore my surroundings! I’ve absolutely dominated Sili’s river at this point. I can almost cross it with my eyes closed (that is a huge exaggeration and I might drown if ever attempted). There is another volunteer from my group in Gautavai, the village next door, and I found a neat plantation path that can take me straight to her! So that’s been fun and exciting. Also, my village is about a 15-minute bus ride from the gorgeous Afu Aau waterfall, which I’ve been to three times now. The waterfall is so large and forceful that it’s actually a struggle to swim very close to it. I figure it’s my Peace Corps version of a resistance pool, no matter how hard you swim you never move.

My excitement for Afu Aau!

I’ve also had some amazing weekends away with some other volunteers on my island. We spent a weekend paddle boarding, kayaking, and eating French fries (naturally) at a resort. We also went swimming with sea turtles, which was quite the experience. I’m all about skydiving and bungee jumping, but large sea animals apparently freak me out. I got in the water and a turtle immediately rubbed up against my leg. My face had some sort of reaction that sent my friends into a laughing fit. Needless to say, it was a very neat experience that I will not feel the need to do twice. The turtles are large!

Don't let the smile confuse you, I was terrified.

We’ve also gotten together to see some of Samoa’s history. We went to the Dwarf Cave, which supposedly has small footprints that we were unsuccessful in finding. The lack of success might be associated with the fact that 5 girls arrived to explore a pitch-black cave with one Tinkerbelle flashlight. Our “tour guide” spoke no English and found us to be hilarious. It was a very cool cave, but I definitely opted out on the parts where one would’ve had to swim.

The hole under us is the entrance to the cave.

Our last exploration thus far was to the Saleaula Lava Ruins. Mount Matāvanu erupted in 1905 and left 76 square kilometers of lava rock in Savai’i. Nowadays, it’s very cool to see because the lava rock is still everywhere. There is an old church that is full of lava rock, but there are also just buildings and houses built on top of the rock. It makes for a beautiful area and village!

I love the wrinkles from the lava!

So, January has been quite fun. The holidays were an isolating time period with each of us in our own villages, but my friends and I were able to make the most of it. I feel incredibly lucky to live in such a gorgeous place with so much history! School begins on Monday and then I will officially be Miss Sala. I’ll be teaching English to grades 4-6 at risk students. I have a very cute classroom that was set up by the previous Peace Corps Volunteer. I’m excited to get started and see what my next two years will really entail!

My sweet little classroom for the next two years.

Wish me luck because… the children are coming!