it's up to you to cut the honey, honey.

pics: the toys for kids seem to break within a day or two. here are some examples...i want to bring a Tonka truck with me from America...that was my favorite toy when I was little and had my sand and dirt pile.

Sina really liked to build card castles...here is one before one of the younger kids knocked it down. and the cups...she likes to build! so do I.

12/26/07
I was watching the kids play with the deck of cards, that had now lost a few cards, so no more suipi;( I thought of this game that might be fun. 10 cards folded in half and arranged like bowling pins, 5 coins (20 sene each), something to block the coins with (a towel?) a smooth floor. each player gets five coins—5 tries to roll one coin at a time and knock down as many cards as possible. The player with the most cards down wins the money. We didn’t get a chance to play the game;(

I have witnessed the power of a camera—kids wanting their picture taken, then wanting to see it. Instant gratification. The pictures you see are some of the results.

My sister, Vila, makes the icy blocks—water, vanilla, and sugar—then freezes them in small plastic bags, and sells them for 50 Sene each (100 Sene make one Tala—dollar). They were a big hit with the village, so big she ran out. I think they taste pretty good. I want to watch her making them.

I got to watch more Samoan “grump” …is this only a Samoan thing?I’ve never heard of it before. Makes me want to say “grump grump” and think of Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. Kind of like hip hop, but what I saw was one person dancing up close in someone else’s face. Maybe a sort of face off. Pela, my sisters son is a good dancer. Vila said he wants to be a dancer. He was teaching me one of the Samoan dances after I teach some yoga in the afternoon before dinner. They get a good laugh out of me trying to do the moves. I’m working on it. There’s also hip hop, and siva Samoa—dances. Dancing and music is very big in Samoa. That’s OK with me. I like good music and dancing. And contests, all the kids want contests. The “big kids” have loto and bingo for their contests.

I guess the term “double bag” is not used in Samoa. I was at the store and asked the lady to double bag some heavy stuff for me. I’ll say “ako lua, fa’amolemole” from now on—bag two, please.

John, one of our group79 PCV showed me how to “cut the honey” with a knife. That was cool. Learn something new everyday…recently, I’ve been learning a lot more than one thing each day.

Some Samoan sayings I’ve heard a lot include: “it’s up to you” and “tomorrow is another day.” I’m not used to the “it’s up to you.” I never hear that in America.

I met this girl (Suse) who is staying a few villages from Tafagamanu. She will move to Samoa next year to help her dad with the family business (a store—falealoa). She said all Pacific Island people are called “coconuts” (or that’s what she calls them). I didn’t know that. She lives in Australia now.