Rugby misses mexican food
pics: fire dancing! we went to a fire dancing contest....even it was the first day of competitions it was still cool...
6/24
One thing I still don’t understand, why is it so hard to get my rugby ball back from the vice principal. I bought a rugby ball so I could practice my kicks when no one else was around. It disappeared on the first day. It reappeared the next Friday at rugby practice with the school boys. Tomorrow night (ha ha ha. I can see into the future) the science teacher will ask for some ice, and I will say please bring me my rugby ball first. I will wait and see if it appears. And wait. And wait. And wait.
…re-reading The Sun Magazine, creating a semi-poem, I came across some advice that I think is good for me right now. Page 15: “why do you always insist that everyone and everything be happy before you can be happy yourself? Don’t you know that’s impossible?” hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…I have tried to make this happen.
“fa’amatala. Fa’amatala. Fa’amatala.” I keep saying this to my students in computer class. I don’t want them to do it for them. I want each student to do it themselves, because I think that is how they will learn best, especially in a samoan culture—hearing the instruction, and using their hands to do the action, double click or dragging text…and then we repeat 101 times. Which I realized we only repeated it maybe 11 times during the practical part of the midterm exams this week. My students gave me many blank stares when I gave them some instructions to complete on their computer. One example… “highlight the text” hmmmmmmmmm we don’t seem to know that yet. Students really want to sit back, relax, and let others do it for them. That is the communal part of the samoan culture front and center, but that is not what will help them (each student) in the long term. I see this in the teachers, especially this week, when we were finishing typing the midyear exams. There were two teachers who waited until the last minute, and then mr. Crichton got to type their tests for them. But the teachers know I won’t do that easily. I don’t real
ly think that me doing it for them—the teachers—will help them in the long term. I remember what Fata (our Peace Corps program director) said, that we are here to transfer skills, I guess even if the teachers are not happy about the process of that.
But I have been helping mr. fualau (the science teacher) to create diagrams, even to edit the scanned pictures in Microsoft paint and then insert them into the MSWord document. That is the most advanced stage we are at so far, and that has done it for all the diagrams in the midyear exams. So if 7 out of 11 teachers really understand how to create and modify tables and create/scan and modify diagrams, that would be GREAT progress.
My mom sent me another issue of New World Finn…. “eating copious amounts of dark rye bread with Finnish cheese.” Mmmmmmmmmm I miss that! A normal Finn mechanic examines some evidence… “a certain lack of social grace, seasonal affective “disorder”, over-intellectuality, far ranging musical interests, a tendency for to unnecessary honesty…” yep, sounds like me.
Wanted on a T-shirt: “what the heck, it’s a living”
6/22
Mexican food came to our fale tonight. I made black bean, refried beans, and cheese n’ nachos for my Samoan family. Ahhh on a scale of 10 I give it a five. Melted cheese is best eaten when it is HOT, not when it has been sitting for 5-15 minutes. The cherry tomatoes were warm—there is no fridge in our fale, only a freezer, oh and cheese does not freeze well. But next weekend I think I’m staying at Sara and Kale’s place to make fajitas. Mmmm…my mouth is watering.
The first person from our PC group (group 79, arrived October 07) is leaving Samoa. He has had some difficulties and I guess decided it could not work. I’m sad, but the statistics say, what do they say, I don’t know, some people leave PC early (early terminate); whatever. We’ll miss him. It is hard to live in a place where you are expected to share everything, and sa
ving isn’t known.
Let me say now that working and experiencing Samoan culture—where all people want to be as close to their family as possible—has made me want to go home right at the end of two years to help my “family.” So as of now, I’m going to head back to America at the end of my two years of service. Let’s see if that actually happens (if I don’t extend my service at all ). I miss my mom and grandparents. 2 years…uma!
It seems weird to read about the $200 barrel of oil, which will change “everything.” Including the price of everything shipped to Samoa, “rising transport costs.” Fun. Things are expensive enough for the people living here. My Pule (principal) told me that a newly minted teacher earns the same amount of money that a veteran teacher does…like one at our school that has taught for 10 years.
This is from a Newsweek article in the June 9, 2008 issue (PC Samoa has a subscription to newsweek, so there are always multiple boxes littering the hallway in the office). “Ford has slashed production of its F-series pickup trucks, an American best seller for 20 years.” Wow. Now shoot to the end of the article “but if you think things won’t be pleasant for industrial nations, think about developing economies, where people spend 50% of their income on food and fuel.” I wonder what percentage of earnings people use for food and fuel.
One thing I still don’t understand, why is it so hard to get my rugby ball back from the vice principal. I bought a rugby ball so I could practice my kicks when no one else was around. It disappeared on the first day. It reappeared the next Friday at rugby practice with the school boys. Tomorrow night (ha ha ha. I can see into the future) the science teacher will ask for some ice, and I will say please bring me my rugby ball first. I will wait and see if it appears. And wait. And wait. And wait.
…re-reading The Sun Magazine, creating a semi-poem, I came across some advice that I think is good for me right now. Page 15: “why do you always insist that everyone and everything be happy before you can be happy yourself? Don’t you know that’s impossible?” hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…I have tried to make this happen.
“fa’amatala. Fa’amatala. Fa’amatala.” I keep saying this to my students in computer class. I don’t want them to do it for them. I want each student to do it themselves, because I think that is how they will learn best, especially in a samoan culture—hearing the instruction, and using their hands to do the action, double click or dragging text…and then we repeat 101 times. Which I realized we only repeated it maybe 11 times during the practical part of the midterm exams this week. My students gave me many blank stares when I gave them some instructions to complete on their computer. One example… “highlight the text” hmmmmmmmmm we don’t seem to know that yet. Students really want to sit back, relax, and let others do it for them. That is the communal part of the samoan culture front and center, but that is not what will help them (each student) in the long term. I see this in the teachers, especially this week, when we were finishing typing the midyear exams. There were two teachers who waited until the last minute, and then mr. Crichton got to type their tests for them. But the teachers know I won’t do that easily. I don’t real
ly think that me doing it for them—the teachers—will help them in the long term. I remember what Fata (our Peace Corps program director) said, that we are here to transfer skills, I guess even if the teachers are not happy about the process of that.But I have been helping mr. fualau (the science teacher) to create diagrams, even to edit the scanned pictures in Microsoft paint and then insert them into the MSWord document. That is the most advanced stage we are at so far, and that has done it for all the diagrams in the midyear exams. So if 7 out of 11 teachers really understand how to create and modify tables and create/scan and modify diagrams, that would be GREAT progress.
My mom sent me another issue of New World Finn…. “eating copious amounts of dark rye bread with Finnish cheese.” Mmmmmmmmmm I miss that! A normal Finn mechanic examines some evidence… “a certain lack of social grace, seasonal affective “disorder”, over-intellectuality, far ranging musical interests, a tendency for to unnecessary honesty…” yep, sounds like me.
Wanted on a T-shirt: “what the heck, it’s a living”
6/22
Mexican food came to our fale tonight. I made black bean, refried beans, and cheese n’ nachos for my Samoan family. Ahhh on a scale of 10 I give it a five. Melted cheese is best eaten when it is HOT, not when it has been sitting for 5-15 minutes. The cherry tomatoes were warm—there is no fridge in our fale, only a freezer, oh and cheese does not freeze well. But next weekend I think I’m staying at Sara and Kale’s place to make fajitas. Mmmm…my mouth is watering.
The first person from our PC group (group 79, arrived October 07) is leaving Samoa. He has had some difficulties and I guess decided it could not work. I’m sad, but the statistics say, what do they say, I don’t know, some people leave PC early (early terminate); whatever. We’ll miss him. It is hard to live in a place where you are expected to share everything, and sa
ving isn’t known.Let me say now that working and experiencing Samoan culture—where all people want to be as close to their family as possible—has made me want to go home right at the end of two years to help my “family.” So as of now, I’m going to head back to America at the end of my two years of service. Let’s see if that actually happens (if I don’t extend my service at all ). I miss my mom and grandparents. 2 years…uma!
It seems weird to read about the $200 barrel of oil, which will change “everything.” Including the price of everything shipped to Samoa, “rising transport costs.” Fun. Things are expensive enough for the people living here. My Pule (principal) told me that a newly minted teacher earns the same amount of money that a veteran teacher does…like one at our school that has taught for 10 years.
This is from a Newsweek article in the June 9, 2008 issue (PC Samoa has a subscription to newsweek, so there are always multiple boxes littering the hallway in the office). “Ford has slashed production of its F-series pickup trucks, an American best seller for 20 years.” Wow. Now shoot to the end of the article “but if you think things won’t be pleasant for industrial nations, think about developing economies, where people spend 50% of their income on food and fuel.” I wonder what percentage of earnings people use for food and fuel.
posted by bigchainring at 1:47 AM
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