hot Taxes, palagi food, and another package;)
in the pics: a view of our rugby field(and a pig), a finnish reindeer and flag, a picture I drew of the keyboard homerow.
4/14/08
Today is tax day in america. Ahhhhh…I submitted mine over the internet…so I hope they’re done.
Lots to say today…when I walked in to the computer lab, one of the computers would not boot (start Microsoft windows). Messed around with the recovery function, but could not remember enough MSDos to make it work…a full rebuild, and I swapped CD-ROM drive. My Pule (principal) seemed impressed “Malo!” there is still one computer that has a dead powersupply (I think). I’m not that good with hardware, and it is really frustrating without the internet because my way of thinking involves a lot of google.
I really don’t like the teachers hitting students, and even though I can’t stop it in other classrooms, it will not happen in my computer lab. I told my pule this and she seems to support it. I also asked her if she would like to invite a psychologist to our school to talk about other ways to “motivate” students. She said that would be something VERY new to the teach
ers and they may have a negative reaction, so she would have to decline. But the problem still persists of students getting to year 12 and not being able to express themselves because they have been trained up to that point on rote learning and there is a big gap between rote learning and writing a poem or summarizing a story, which are a few of the projects year 12 students are working on right now. I wonder if there if is a report/study that explains the (long term) effects of hitting children—especially in an educational system. My Pule also said the pastors (faifeaus) used to be more involved in students’ success with homework nights at their houses. This doesn’t happen anymore, at least in our part of the island. I want to ask if we could start something like that again. I think it would really help the students—the ones whose parents can’t/won’t help them with homework.
Ahhhh….if I’m going to have a true Samoan experience, I need to eat like the samoans. Tonight we had BBQ chicken (moa bbq), taro (talo), and breadfruit (ulu). Heave dinner, and then some Sprim to wash it down and make big muscles. And I’m holding a bright and shiny “mr. bean” package, complete with MSG—which bill told me is banned in Australia and is carcinogenic….fun! they taste good though.
Pamphlet on leadership from the Peace Chapel—a church I like to attend in Apia because they have an English service, and music very similar to the Vineyard live, complete with guitar, bass, keys, and a drumset. Course contents: “homiletics” which I looked up in the dictionary. It’s something about a sermon, but is related to homicide. Hmmmmm…I don’t follow…homicide related to a sermon.
4/13
The iPod Nano…what can I say. 8GB of silver and blue lust, but I just want my (sansa) music player to hold a little more music. I’m almost out of space. The backside doubles as a mirror. Interesting combination of uses. Designed by apple in California. Assembled in China.
Went to Peace Chapel. “in samoa, most parents put their hope in their children” placing our hope…misplaced hope. This was the topic of the sermon
Oooohh, new email quote: “people do well because they are loved and because much is asked of them—not because they are black or white. (Shelby steele, Time magazine, December 10, 2007, pg. 47)
A PCV told me I look like an organic person. …someone who likes nuts and berries. I though that was an interesting description of me.
5 hot showers—my skin says thank you—rashes dissipate. I only get cold water in the village, but our PCMO (peace corps medical officer) suggested I rinse with some hot water, from my hot water maker. I’d never thought of that…
And the PCoffice has no internet. I think it was because someone forgot to reset the server at the main ISP, and on Sunday’s samoa sleeps, a lot.
4/12
I’m staying at a friend’s house, bill, who is a lawyer with the Provident fund. I’m not sure what it does. He collects money though. I was at his house using my exercise (stretchy) band on my hamstrings. He asked me what it was. I said it was my rubberband. He said that sounded rude. I said he asked, and I told him.
I watch a movie called the Myst (Stephen king) with some other PCVs. It was actually pretty good, not too much blood and gore, done well. The ending was very good. Gives me something to think about…human nature, religion, in times of terror.
Dinner at Erik’s house. Yummy spaghetti feed. Including “minced”meat, garlic, onions, chili pappers, tomato sauce, spices, mushrooms. Let them cook a long time…cheese, some bread too…and there was some beer. I’m still told I’m a cheap date.
Found a book to read about writing and went into my antisocial cave. Here are some notes: [“Zen in the art of writing”…when was the last time you dared release a cherished prejudice so it slammed the page like a lightening bolt? What are the best and worst things in your life and when are you going to get around to whispering or shouting them?...what do you like most in the world? Find and shape the little bitternesses…the faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are…be blown up, as it were, by your own delights and despairs.]
Lots of good palagi food in my tummy this weekend. Now I look for a good salad.
4/11
Friday and school is over; heading to apia on the bumpy bus, to finish taxes and see the PC doctor about my visiting rashes.
Samoa is big on respect and teachers are very respected in the villages. But as in America, teachers’ pay in Samoa really sucks, is not a lot, piddly diddly. I wonder what the pay would be if respect showed on the pay check.
The “counterpart”…a hard to define person the PCV works with in some way/shape or form during their service. The goal is to transfer some skills from the PCV to the counterpart, who will stay in the village, or with the organization to continue the work. My counterpart may turn out to be the science teacher, or maybe the principal. Time will tell. But they are both really motivated to practice the computer.
I arrive in Apia, and head for my usual routine: get money from bank, have a fish burger “skippy’s” very yummy, and a on the cheap side. (a “fisherman’s burger: two fish patties, an egg, cheese, tomato, cucumber, and sauce. Max says it’s a walking heart attack. I’m still losing weight.) at a restaurant called And then walk along the seawall to the peace corps office to take care of business.
Dinner at the country club with the “Friday night group” people a bit older than I am. But goooooood food: steak and (2)eggs. So egg total for the day is 3…but a yummy 3 eggs.
04/07
Word of the day: put…means tu’u in Samoan. Ou te tu’u mamoe i totonu le pusa isa. I put the mutton in the refrigerator.
Yo…I just sent out a text message to a few people asking a question about some software I installed recently on computers at my school. Mr. Max called me back about five minutes later. It feels good to have people listening. Sometimes I feel very separated from people who understand a little better—yes I mean Palagis (outsiders/non samoans).
Yes text messages are my main way of communicating now. In America, I could shoot out email messages to 1,2,5,10 people asking a question, (I like to ask questions) and get some answers, or I could ask Google. Here in Samoa, my school does not have internet…oh no! must think in a different way. But that’s not a bad thing. Just means I have to be a little more creative, and use some of the books in our library—some published in the 60s and 70s…before I was born.
I was talking to my principal (pule) about our school fees. It currently costs $40 tala/term ($120/year). She said this is the cheapest in Samoa for a secondary school. A secondary school in Apia costs $50-80 tala. National University of Samoa costs $1000/semester. That’s A LOT in Samoa. I wonder how a private school is different in Samoa.
03/31
Lotto is big in Samoa. The teachers at my school have a little play in this with the bonus number. Each teacher has 2 or 3 numbers and for each number puts in $4 tala each week. I have two numbers: 2 and 16 (my birthday!). the winner each week (whoever matches the bonus number) gets $100. I’ve won the bonus twice so far. My principal says “mataio, you are very lucky.” Yeah, well lets get luckier. It’ll be interesting to see if I win again this year.
I was thinking about the Samoan language. There are many examples of a Samoan word having many meanings. One example is “malo,” meaning good, hello, yep, OK, etc. sometimes it seems that English is so segmented, meaning there is a separate word for every different thing/idea/concept. I see the Samoan language struggling with western things and concepts. There are many times when I have asked teachers at my school about how an English word translates to Samoan, and they have to discuss it among themselves for a while. Words like imagine or imaginary, which I’ve been told is manatunatuga or mafaufauga. Does this mean the language is getting diluted? s
3/30
So I finally got the package my mom sent me a while ago. It had some stuff I asked her to send me..among other things: an American and Finnish flag (I want to get a Samoan flag, but am getting different answers as to where I should go), ziplock bags, a book of poems, some books about Finland (my mom really wants me to learn about Finland), an ear syringe, a birthday card, some large pictures of a sauna in Finland and some traditional Finnish food, a reindeer tealight candle holder, and a green Finnish (I think) table cloth—or hand cloth (it’s now covering one of my small tables)…some underwear; I don’t use underwear right now because it rubs on my skin, which is already sweaty, and I don’t want any more rashes on my body. I already have enough, thank you. I also requested some NagChampa incense. Unfortunately, it was seized by ministry of agriculture quarantine service and labeled as m/coil, which I’m assuming is mosquito coil. Result—destroyed the paper says. Oh well, I got a good whiff of the essence of the smell. I took a big smell because I was in the PC office and not on the street. It was nice. I guess incense will have to wait until after PC in Samoa.
Quiz 2 for the teachers I’m working with. Right now we are learning the difference (ese’esega) between hardware and software, operating system basics, different types of software, and how to do basic operations in MSWord. Quiz 2 for my students happened last week. I thought I did pretty thorough review with my students before the quiz. Apparently something didn’t go right, many students didn’t pass. I looked at an example quiz from my principal (pule). It contained many fill in the blanks, matching. My quiz had none of those, but was all straight memorization. Hmmmmm..
Today is tax day in america. Ahhhhh…I submitted mine over the internet…so I hope they’re done.
Lots to say today…when I walked in to the computer lab, one of the computers would not boot (start Microsoft windows). Messed around with the recovery function, but could not remember enough MSDos to make it work…a full rebuild, and I swapped CD-ROM drive. My Pule (principal) seemed impressed “Malo!” there is still one computer that has a dead powersupply (I think). I’m not that good with hardware, and it is really frustrating without the internet because my way of thinking involves a lot of google.
I really don’t like the teachers hitting students, and even though I can’t stop it in other classrooms, it will not happen in my computer lab. I told my pule this and she seems to support it. I also asked her if she would like to invite a psychologist to our school to talk about other ways to “motivate” students. She said that would be something VERY new to the teach
ers and they may have a negative reaction, so she would have to decline. But the problem still persists of students getting to year 12 and not being able to express themselves because they have been trained up to that point on rote learning and there is a big gap between rote learning and writing a poem or summarizing a story, which are a few of the projects year 12 students are working on right now. I wonder if there if is a report/study that explains the (long term) effects of hitting children—especially in an educational system. My Pule also said the pastors (faifeaus) used to be more involved in students’ success with homework nights at their houses. This doesn’t happen anymore, at least in our part of the island. I want to ask if we could start something like that again. I think it would really help the students—the ones whose parents can’t/won’t help them with homework.Ahhhh….if I’m going to have a true Samoan experience, I need to eat like the samoans. Tonight we had BBQ chicken (moa bbq), taro (talo), and breadfruit (ulu). Heave dinner, and then some Sprim to wash it down and make big muscles. And I’m holding a bright and shiny “mr. bean” package, complete with MSG—which bill told me is banned in Australia and is carcinogenic….fun! they taste good though.
Pamphlet on leadership from the Peace Chapel—a church I like to attend in Apia because they have an English service, and music very similar to the Vineyard live, complete with guitar, bass, keys, and a drumset. Course contents: “homiletics” which I looked up in the dictionary. It’s something about a sermon, but is related to homicide. Hmmmmm…I don’t follow…homicide related to a sermon.
4/13
The iPod Nano…what can I say. 8GB of silver and blue lust, but I just want my (sansa) music player to hold a little more music. I’m almost out of space. The backside doubles as a mirror. Interesting combination of uses. Designed by apple in California. Assembled in China.
Went to Peace Chapel. “in samoa, most parents put their hope in their children” placing our hope…misplaced hope. This was the topic of the sermon
Oooohh, new email quote: “people do well because they are loved and because much is asked of them—not because they are black or white. (Shelby steele, Time magazine, December 10, 2007, pg. 47)
A PCV told me I look like an organic person. …someone who likes nuts and berries. I though that was an interesting description of me.
5 hot showers—my skin says thank you—rashes dissipate. I only get cold water in the village, but our PCMO (peace corps medical officer) suggested I rinse with some hot water, from my hot water maker. I’d never thought of that…
And the PCoffice has no internet. I think it was because someone forgot to reset the server at the main ISP, and on Sunday’s samoa sleeps, a lot.
4/12
I’m staying at a friend’s house, bill, who is a lawyer with the Provident fund. I’m not sure what it does. He collects money though. I was at his house using my exercise (stretchy) band on my hamstrings. He asked me what it was. I said it was my rubberband. He said that sounded rude. I said he asked, and I told him.
I watch a movie called the Myst (Stephen king) with some other PCVs. It was actually pretty good, not too much blood and gore, done well. The ending was very good. Gives me something to think about…human nature, religion, in times of terror.
Dinner at Erik’s house. Yummy spaghetti feed. Including “minced”meat, garlic, onions, chili pappers, tomato sauce, spices, mushrooms. Let them cook a long time…cheese, some bread too…and there was some beer. I’m still told I’m a cheap date.
Found a book to read about writing and went into my antisocial cave. Here are some notes: [“Zen in the art of writing”…when was the last time you dared release a cherished prejudice so it slammed the page like a lightening bolt? What are the best and worst things in your life and when are you going to get around to whispering or shouting them?...what do you like most in the world? Find and shape the little bitternesses…the faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are…be blown up, as it were, by your own delights and despairs.]
Lots of good palagi food in my tummy this weekend. Now I look for a good salad.
4/11
Friday and school is over; heading to apia on the bumpy bus, to finish taxes and see the PC doctor about my visiting rashes.
Samoa is big on respect and teachers are very respected in the villages. But as in America, teachers’ pay in Samoa really sucks, is not a lot, piddly diddly. I wonder what the pay would be if respect showed on the pay check.
The “counterpart”…a hard to define person the PCV works with in some way/shape or form during their service. The goal is to transfer some skills from the PCV to the counterpart, who will stay in the village, or with the organization to continue the work. My counterpart may turn out to be the science teacher, or maybe the principal. Time will tell. But they are both really motivated to practice the computer.
I arrive in Apia, and head for my usual routine: get money from bank, have a fish burger “skippy’s” very yummy, and a on the cheap side. (a “fisherman’s burger: two fish patties, an egg, cheese, tomato, cucumber, and sauce. Max says it’s a walking heart attack. I’m still losing weight.) at a restaurant called And then walk along the seawall to the peace corps office to take care of business.
Dinner at the country club with the “Friday night group” people a bit older than I am. But goooooood food: steak and (2)eggs. So egg total for the day is 3…but a yummy 3 eggs.
04/07
Word of the day: put…means tu’u in Samoan. Ou te tu’u mamoe i totonu le pusa isa. I put the mutton in the refrigerator.
Yo…I just sent out a text message to a few people asking a question about some software I installed recently on computers at my school. Mr. Max called me back about five minutes later. It feels good to have people listening. Sometimes I feel very separated from people who understand a little better—yes I mean Palagis (outsiders/non samoans).
Yes text messages are my main way of communicating now. In America, I could shoot out email messages to 1,2,5,10 people asking a question, (I like to ask questions) and get some answers, or I could ask Google. Here in Samoa, my school does not have internet…oh no! must think in a different way. But that’s not a bad thing. Just means I have to be a little more creative, and use some of the books in our library—some published in the 60s and 70s…before I was born.
I was talking to my principal (pule) about our school fees. It currently costs $40 tala/term ($120/year). She said this is the cheapest in Samoa for a secondary school. A secondary school in Apia costs $50-80 tala. National University of Samoa costs $1000/semester. That’s A LOT in Samoa. I wonder how a private school is different in Samoa.
03/31
Lotto is big in Samoa. The teachers at my school have a little play in this with the bonus number. Each teacher has 2 or 3 numbers and for each number puts in $4 tala each week. I have two numbers: 2 and 16 (my birthday!). the winner each week (whoever matches the bonus number) gets $100. I’ve won the bonus twice so far. My principal says “mataio, you are very lucky.” Yeah, well lets get luckier. It’ll be interesting to see if I win again this year.
I was thinking about the Samoan language. There are many examples of a Samoan word having many meanings. One example is “malo,” meaning good, hello, yep, OK, etc. sometimes it seems that English is so segmented, meaning there is a separate word for every different thing/idea/concept. I see the Samoan language struggling with western things and concepts. There are many times when I have asked teachers at my school about how an English word translates to Samoan, and they have to discuss it among themselves for a while. Words like imagine or imaginary, which I’ve been told is manatunatuga or mafaufauga. Does this mean the language is getting diluted? s
3/30
So I finally got the package my mom sent me a while ago. It had some stuff I asked her to send me..among other things: an American and Finnish flag (I want to get a Samoan flag, but am getting different answers as to where I should go), ziplock bags, a book of poems, some books about Finland (my mom really wants me to learn about Finland), an ear syringe, a birthday card, some large pictures of a sauna in Finland and some traditional Finnish food, a reindeer tealight candle holder, and a green Finnish (I think) table cloth—or hand cloth (it’s now covering one of my small tables)…some underwear; I don’t use underwear right now because it rubs on my skin, which is already sweaty, and I don’t want any more rashes on my body. I already have enough, thank you. I also requested some NagChampa incense. Unfortunately, it was seized by ministry of agriculture quarantine service and labeled as m/coil, which I’m assuming is mosquito coil. Result—destroyed the paper says. Oh well, I got a good whiff of the essence of the smell. I took a big smell because I was in the PC office and not on the street. It was nice. I guess incense will have to wait until after PC in Samoa.
Quiz 2 for the teachers I’m working with. Right now we are learning the difference (ese’esega) between hardware and software, operating system basics, different types of software, and how to do basic operations in MSWord. Quiz 2 for my students happened last week. I thought I did pretty thorough review with my students before the quiz. Apparently something didn’t go right, many students didn’t pass. I looked at an example quiz from my principal (pule). It contained many fill in the blanks, matching. My quiz had none of those, but was all straight memorization. Hmmmmm..
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