chicken's fire asks why education is important

in the pics: a view of the fale cooker and fale samoa through the backdoor of the staff room at school; flashback to our training: men's slap dance and the fiafia performance...don't we look cute in our purple and white;) although the fabric looks kind of blue in the picture. (the pics are also smaller. I have started reducing the size so they will upload to blogger faster. if there is a pic you really want in a larger size, please send me an email.)

8/6
I practiced some more siva afi (fire dancing)…without the fire. Just the stick. I think I can do the “around the thumb” version (slowly) that Aaron showed me a few weeks ago. Another PCV wants to do siva afi (with fire) for the next new group of PC volunteers that arrive in country. I want to watch.

How a bag of chicken saved the day…my principal was not happy with me for using “too much” electricity…keeping my fridge on over the weekend. But I don’t want my sauce to go bad, and I’m used to keeping it on. Then on Tuesday I went to the store to buy 8lbs of chicken legs (vai moa)…how that brightened the day. Taua(my principal) said “thank you for helping us.” Hmmmmm. I consider helping the village giving the best computer classes I can. Where is the instant gratification in that? Give me my bag of chicken and then we’ll talk. Guess I should do that ever few weeks.

It was interesting the process of watching a student get her quiz torn up. I must have given her 4 warnings. But there is supposed to be no talking during quizzes/tests. At one point she looked straight at me, smiling, and talked to another student. I finally said “mai sugega” (bring me the test). She shook her head and I repeated, a little louder. She brought it to me and I slowly tore down the middle of the paper. And put it on the floor. And I gave her detention. I will not hit my students. But I think that is what they are expecting and what they are used to. Some of them may not know how to operate without the hitting. She was quiet and put her head down after I took her test. No one else had to have their test torn up.

More biking today after school. I took a different route. Straight up up up to the (amost) top of the hill. Then…down down, really fast down. Down a different road that was really steep, but all the same fun. I’ll do it again, soon hopefully. I think it may be finally time to replace the bottom bracket. I heard other volunteers had to get their replaced already. A defect in the bike I guess. I just want my bike to work right when I need it.

I’m finding more and more interesting books in the library at our school (which is also the computer lab…so get to look at it all day, every day). latest book: “Greek Gods.”
“Even in our modern scientific age, we cannot explain all natural phenomena, but we assume they have been or will be explained by someone who has more information and understanding than we have. We do not try to make our own interpretations.” I think we should still try to create our own interpretations. Sometimes our own interpretations are more important than the (esoteric) explanations of science. What is it that really matters to us? “primitive man was always asking questions and trying to find answers; he was challenged by the unknown, and since there were no established laws of science, no acknowledged authorities, he found for himself magnificent answers in the form of stories.” Where are our stories? Who makes our contemporary stories? Who are our story tellers? Story masters?

Tonight’s essay question for English year 12: “the importance of education.”
What does a better future mean to a Samoan? What does a better future look like to a Samoan? I couldn’t seem to get the students I was helping to tell me more reasons than just “to find a good job.” Does it all stem from a “good job”?