Thanksgiving's faitala

in the pics...
matthewINA: white Sunday is a day for kids. They perform their songs and dances, then get food and ice cream, call it day.
whitesunLe: Le is a little girl in my Samoan family. At first she was very shy of me. Now she likes to climb on me.
Whitesunsticktongue: my samoan father doesn’t very often …lost the words. But the camera caught a fun face.


11/27
I’m going to apia tomorrow for the peace corps Thanksgiving party. I hope I don’t get too homesick. I don’t think so…because it’s so hot my body doesn’t really know that it should be cold (and snowy..) singing Christmas songs doesn’t work either.

Samoans …if they like something, and you’re younger, they just take it. I guess I don’t have much privacy anymore. The little girl comes in my room regularly. I’m sharing my bike, peanut butter, and flashlights, among other things. I was reading the social studies book from our school. It said along the lines of …development is improving peoples standard of living. Hmmmmm…I wonder if all the things I share improve the standard of living…that’s not really the main reason I’m here—it should be to teach computers. I won’t see any of the results from that…sometimes that’s hard.


11/24
Latest issue of Faitala (the Peace corps volunteer newsletter in Samoa)—Extreme bussing. See new Zealand face first! Collect some of NZ’s fine insect life…IN YOUR FACE. Improve bus aerodynamics and fuel efficiency… WITH YOUR FACE. Get amazing second-degree sun burns…ALL OVER YOUR FACE. (fine print: sun burns are free. You may take them wherever you wish.) I wonder if you get paid for saving fuel.?.


11/18
I read another article in National Geographic, march 1993, Easter Island Unveiled
It was really interesting. I want to go visit.
“shrewd exploitation of limited resources”
What I felt listening to Teao wasn’t so much the isolation of EI but the richness of local knowledge and culture that isolation had produced.
(I feel that is how Samoa is, but the outside world presses in more and more)
The start of regular air service in 1967 created a tourist industry, and the old cashless society of families sharing the work of farming and fishing began to break apart, replaced by the colder logic of commerce.
“the old family union is gone.” In the old system, large extended f amilies lived close together in compounds…
(that’s how it still is in Samoa in many places on the island)
The sense of place was ingrained in her in a way almost unfathomable to an American.
(as I look at a photograph in the magazine, with it’s pink sky sunset, clouds hung randomly, it almost looks like a samoan sunset.)

sturdy Toa Samoa

in the pics...
Whitesunbanner: this is the banner that I guess gets made every year for white Sunday. They lined the church rafters. Shortly after, there was a “disagreement” and my village doesn’t attend that church anymore. I’m sad.
Whitesundaypokagirls: it’s not so much the actual program that samoans like taking pictures of. It’s the after party where everyone poses for the camera. I thought this was a good picture. I usually just give the camera to someone in my family and tell them to get some pictures.
Whitesundayprogram: a picture of all the kids doing their white Sunday program.


11/15
A good game of ultimate Frisbee yesterday. I just wish we had a Frisbee that glowed in the dark. We were playing at dusk and it got so dark I couldn’t see the white Frisbee touch my hand when I was in the goal zone…ahhhhhh…!
Waking up to the sound of waves on the beach is nice. I’m at Tafatafa—some beach fales right at the water. It was a good party for Peace Corps volunteers who are leaving Samoa soon..they are done done DONE! I have one more year.

Sturdy. Hardy. Durable. I was talking to a Samoan friend. She is very “type A” personality—always busy doing heavy work in her yard—cutting grass with machete, moving dirt, setting posts in the ground, making lists, thinks ahead. We were talking about palagis (white people), not being as “sturdy” as Samoans. That wasn’t the word she used, but that’s what came to my mind…probably because it’s a Finnish word (and I’m Finnish). Finnish people are sturdy. But it sounds better if you say it with the Finnish accent. And I remember a play called “Shangheid in Astoria” where they talk about being sturdy. That’s the town my mom lives in.

I’m always saying how great is the Internet—find all this information, change your life kind of great. And then I find out that it’s better to wait until I get to NZ to get a camper van—don’t rent on over the internet. Same for reserving Beach fales in Samoa on the internet. Come here in person first—you’ll get a better price. I heard one fale’s internet prices are triple.


11/11
New samoan words
Fa’amama fa’i means clean banana trees
La’u palapala means move dirt
Fa’aputu mai means pile rocks
This is what I did at New Year’s house. I always want to work (hard physical work), because teaching is not hard work physically.


There are different names for the Samoan sports teams:
Toa Samoa – rugby league
Manu samoa – rugby union
Manu sina – ladies rugby (I didn’t know there was organized ladies rugby. It’s not happening at my school).
Manu mea – samoan soccer

new president watches bananas

in the pics...
writingtatoosJuniorglen: two of my year9 students who like to dray tattoos on themselves.
Bopsamoan: my year nine students really liked to draw tattoos on themselves. Here is one example. One of the year 12 students told me they were being cheecky.
taoleumu: making the umu. I like to try and help. my family laughs. It’s all good.


11/5
First day of a new Presidency..i guess I’m curious to see what Obama will do in the first 100 days. Ha ha ha! No internet, no TV (only on the weekends), and I rarely see a newspaper. Life by the ocean, in Samoa.i feel total disconnection from events of the outside world. There is an Australian radio station that I get on my MP3 player…
If you happen to be reading this and feel so inclined, please send me articles about Obama.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christams” says Bing Crosby. So do I, but right now I’m sweating in my room at school. There is no breeze. There is no rain. It’s hot.

National Tsunami drill today? Well, not in our village. I didn’t see anyone running today. It is only 9:10pm, so about three more hours before 11/5 is over. We have had much preparation for a tsunami: run to higher ground. If time, go to consolidation point.

I’m interested personal development. Here is a bit from a PD newsletter I like



Creating Change
Purposeful Wanderings
A Monthly Newsletter for Clients and Friends of The Road Not Taken

“The future is unknown. Potentially world-changing (transformative)
experiences happen all the time. We miss most of them because we’re too busy trying to create them.
Change simply happens. The most powerful tools you have, then, are patience, to wait for changes; awareness, to notice when things change; acceptance, that your life will unfold in a way that serves you; and trust, in your own power of creative expression.”

Some of MY thoughts:
patience--many times difficult, especially if you come with a type A personality. It can be hard with teaching--allowing the student more time to answer. It can be hard with community groups, not to lead, but let other people come with an answer.

awareness--of yourself, of what is happening around you. Deeper than just observation, awareness is comprehending the observations you take in. It can be very energy draining because it requires much concentration.

acceptance--of what is happening. not trying to fight it. Let go of the command and control mindset you may have preinstalled. Things will be just fine.

trust--that you are here for a very good reason. You have power and abilities. Go use them to the service of others. You wanted this. The time is now. Yes you can. ha hah ha. rock on!


11/4
Something different and powerful cometh this way. Something different is taking shape. Can you feel it? I was at the US Embassy in Apia for 5 hours to see Obama get elected president of the United States! I want to believe the hype is what it really seems, but his acceptance speech was cool. I wonder if he’ll get to place any judges. It was a moving afternoon. Even the cynical part of me was touched. It was a very exciting moment. My tears said “bomb-rush the eyes”. A commentator made a comment after his acceptance speech about how calm, almost somber he was, as if he knew the task ahead of him “this only gives us the opportunity for the change we seek.” Yes we can. I could feel the energy crackling through the tv.


11/3
So here I sit this fine morning at the veggie market, watching the banana bunches arrive in the back of pickup (pikiupu) trucks. Christmas must be coming…I hear Jingle Bells remixed to a dance beat. You’re right. Today is Monday and I’m still in town. I have finished teaching classes. This week is School C exams for year 12 students. I’m also staying in town for the US election action tomorrow—there is a party at the US embassy. I got good sleep last night, but I’m still yawning for some reason.

tennis with...sour punch straws

in the pics...
Riverfales: At my friends’ jane and olsen. They have some river fales. Very nice. This is the view from one of the fales.
Rockpath: I carried some of these rocks to make this path. Lots of good muscle building work. I want to do more.
southernLily: I could get the name of this container ship(?). sometimes the resolution on my digital camera is good. Sometimes the quality of the picture is bad. I still have not figured out how to control the camera completely.


11/2
When I stay in Apia during the weekend I like to go to a church called Peace Chapel. They have good music—drumset, keyboards, guitar, bass, and singers. They’ve played some of my favorite Christian music—songs that I just want to listen to. Not sing. Aborb. I just like to listen a lot of the time. Here are some notes from that sermon (lauga) that struck me:
To seek you diligently; commit my life; living with zeal; if there is no pain, no sacrifice; righteousness means right-standing with God; the word “extol” came up a few times…

New fact for the day: in German only rich people play tennis. I’m glad I grew up in America. I love to watch and play tennis! A little with JICA volunteers I need to play again—soon.

My friend Kat was telling me she wants to be like a coconut tree—flexible, but also very strong, able to withstand the storms. Hmmm…yoga practice does just that. But why do so many Christian people associate yoga with something “bad?” there is the spiritual side, but I have found it to be a very good stress reliever and a system of health that works for me. I miss going to power yoga class. I also miss burning lavender in my room. I wonder if my incense burner made it to Astoria…

I’m house sitting for Kat this weekend. A nice little place with a hyper kitten, and a lot of ants.

This heat is making me wilt…




10/29
Take a pee, see a shooting star. I was outside doing the business tonight when I looked up. In the 10 seconds it took I saw a star shooting down towards the horizon. Wow! Good timing, huh?

No matter how much cleaning I do in my room—sweeping, mopping, wet, or dry—the sand, dirt, and wood dropping from the termites always return the next day…well, it had been 5 days when I came back, but it’s a never ending battle. I’m surprised I had the motivation to clean Friday but it was cleaning/workday here at school, so there was cleaning “momentum.”

hmmmmm...it's hot. I was watching the lightening over the ocean a few mintues ago. it seems to be moving out to sea. a few hours ago it was almost overhead, and I could hear the rumble of the thunder. no thunder now. I was playing swipi (a card game popular in samoa) with Emmi, the 6 year old. it was nice to sit outside and feel the cool breeze, what little of it there was. The mosquitoes are a little less swarming than earlier when I was trying to grades tests outside.

I ate some more sour punch straws, that came in the package from my mom! along with sour skittles, some books, a nice shirt for school, some smoked salmon, and raviolli of all things. a good package. Tonight was more elegi and taro for dinner. I'll need to have some tea to offset the effects. we'll see. Listening to Bob Marley (music from shane). i'm not so attached. that's OK.

Today was the written final for computer studies. I started marking year11. so far I'm not impressed. The scores are a lot lower than the midterm. Year 11 seems really cheeky, but did they study that little. Highest overall score so far is 56 (out of 100) and that was one of my "best" students. why are the scores so much lower. is english that bad at year 11?

final exam's no love for bonus questions

in the pics...
MatthewOnosaiLemau: ahhhh fun times at a staff BBQ. Yummy chicken.
Nofoaiga: a rare picture of a teacher smiling. They don’t smile when I take their picture.
Onosaifualaulapoa: more pics at the staff BBQ. The teacher in the middle is sporting his tattoo that men get when they attain matai status.


10/27
(National Geographic May 1993) Article about Mongolian herders in the high lands. “the transition to a market economy was going to pinch, the nomads were learning. “but I am a Mongol, so if our government now says we need to change to have a better life, then perhaps we do.”
“to be honest, I don’t understand how a market economy will work. I’ve never sold my livestock privately and don’t know where I would do this. Who would buy my cashmere? I can’t go to America to sell it.”
“it will take time to educate the herders about managing and marketing,” said Puravodorj, the local district chief. “but it must happen. A free market economy is our only heop for security and prosperity.”
The nomads who talk make it sound like there is nothing better than living under the communist regime.
It’s interesting to read about nomads, this time with pics. I read a book a few months ago about nomads and different explorers’ experiences with them. It sounds very interesting. A good adventure. Just what I like.

Also in this issue, an article about Central Park in NY. I’ve been there a few times, but this article made me want to go back and take a closer look. I wonder if Wildman (the nature teacher) is still doing his thing.



10/25
Next week are final exams. I am looking at reflections I wrote down after the midterm practical (the part on the computer), which was a little rough, but it was a first, so room for improvement. “the practical was hard for yr 9,10. yr11 did not study paint, don’t put it on the test. There were some steps to complete that were not listed on the marking paper. It’s almost like I need to record a macro not to miss a step. I use a computer so much and so fast I don’t even think about some of the clicks of the mouse. The mind of the beginner. Yr9 needs more practice saving/reopening. More practice/repetition in general. I didn’t really test turning off the computer. Do I mark if a student can or cannot do the action? No task more than one point per click. NO BONUS QUESTIONS. (that really messed up the other teacher’s markings..)

a true astorian...oregon that is

10/22
I lived in Astoria, OR for 5 years. Here is a list of ...
You're a true Astorian when...

1. You know who Larry Lockett is
2. You call drunk driving looping
3. You've smoked at the cliff
4. You know what sea lions sound like
5. You've been to the brick house
6. You've hung out at Dairy Queen
7. You started drinking at a young age
8. You love Willis Van Dusen
9. You prefer Pepsi to Coke
10. You refer to your parents by their first names
11. The Goonies is one of your favorite movies
12. You own multiple hoodies
13. You used to go to school drunk or high
14. You graduated from high school with a surprisingly high GPA even though you can't remember doing any work
15. You've hung out at club FM
16. You've smoked on Wireless
17. You hate the Seaside Seagulls
18. You love to fish
19. You enjoy hunting
20. You knew everyone you went to school with for practically your whole life
21. You know everyone from Astoria within 5 years of you
22. You're friends with everyone from Astoria that has a facebook
23. You're a Fishermen Fanatic
24. You know every cop in town
25. You've climbed the column too many times to count
26. You remember when there was no round about
27. You used to buy your groceries at Hauke's
28. You never even noticed that there was no Blockbuster.. Video Horizons has every movie you could ever want
29. You had to ride in the bus for a minimum of 2 hours for every away sporting game.. (except the Clatsop Clash)
30. You remember when the basketball team won state back in '98
31. You think that every time it snows or hails school should be cancelled.. even if it doesn't stick
32. You know everyone that lives in the town
33. You have gotten to Freddies at 5am on the day after Thanksgiving to buy your socks half price
34. You have Steve Roman's number on speed dial in case you get in trouble
35. You always said you couldn't wait to get out of Astoria, but you still live there or go back often.
36. The first alcohol you ever drank was HRD
37. You or one of your best friends has been busted for a MIP or DUI.. or both
38. You honestly believe that Fultanos is the best pizza in the world
39. You've had an Ernie burger
40. You have heard Mr. Neil play the tuba.. haha
41. The only thing you read in the Daily A is the "On the Record"
42. You've been on a serpentine
43. You know what a hill rat is
44. You've egged/been egged at Peter Pan on Halloween
46. You have a KMUN bumper sticker on your car.
47. You've played hide-and-go-seek at midnight at Battery Russell.
48. You've purchased incense at Bach-n-rock.
49. You have the St. Mary's Rummage Sale marked on your calendar.
50. You dress up in a Scandinavian costume at least once a year.
51. You occasionally slip up and say "uff-da!"
52. You've thrown popcorn at Sneak (not Snake) at "Shanghaied in Astoria."
53. When you really have had to walk uphill both ways to get somewhere.
54. You know what the Mr. K's special is at Ship Inn.
55. You know the color of a Star-of-the Sea uniform.
56. You wonder what "intimate skin-to-skin contact" is.
57. You can sing a Brownsmead Flats song.
58. You know the difference between a regular slug and a banana slug.
59. You know at least five different words for "rain."
60. You've been sledding on 8th St.
If you have anything to add please do!

why so many women make bbq chicken

in the pics...
Fua;patolo (two students at school): two of my students taking a break. The one on the left stopped coming to school shortly before the final exams. I don’t know why. He really wanted to learn about computers.
Studentssportsday: students under the tree during our sports day. many fun activities…
Suckingbottles: more sports day action. Yes, that is a baby bottle, but inside is coca-cola, so at least it tastes good.


10/20
(National Geographic February 1993) 3 articles: Mekong River—in SE Asia; Twilight of Apartheid in Africa; Heart of Appalachia.

Mekong River
In Cambodia “I half-expected the birds in the trees to stop chirping and begin screaming with human voices. [at the mass graves].”
“Rise and fall of the Mekong is a yearly upheaval in south Cambodia, compelling it’s people to live on stilts.”
“why so many women?” I asked my interpreter, Miem, as my own boat darted to and fro to keep out of harm’s way. ‘they have the patience to bargain,’ he said. ‘look how they move around, seeking the best price.”
“he’ll never forget that day: a large plane came flying over his village, trailing four rows of reeking white smoke that coated the earth.”
“my four children, who had been playing outside, came down with fevers. Within two years they were dead, except Khung.”

Apartheid in Africa
“township violence is a legacy of apartheid—a system that is violent in itself. But there was a dangerous glorification of the armed struggle; we romanticized it. Our kids grew up with the idea that you are only a hero in the struggle if you are willing to kill someone. It’s destroying our soul.”
“despite the dire headlines, black South Africans manage much normalcy in day to day living. Babies are born, families raised, weddings and birthdays celebrated. There is work and play, warmth and love.”
“‘I am oppressed by this government, yes,’” a Soweto vendor told me, ‘but I am not oppressed. I have life; I have hope for better.’”
“broken homes. It’s the worst disease in Soweto. Children from broken homes can do as they please.”
“‘When they burn down the schools, that means no future,’ Simon told me with dismay. “I say to them, education comes first, freedom comes next.”
“ ‘Our freedom won’t come overnight. A step here, a step there, another step over here…’”
“the legal right to strike, for example, was given to black workers for no other reason than that they just went on strike and the government judged that stopping them would be too costly.”
“students saw “non white” as non-something, ‘which implied that the standard was something, and they were not that particular standard.’”
“a reporter in South Africa sees so much rage that moments of love seem especially magic.”
We live by a system designed for the benefit of whites.”

Appalachia
“In autumn, slopes and ridges teemed with maples, dogwoods, and oaks—with color that set the land on fire.”
“there is much to be proud of”
“A mountain politician once told me that you can tell a town is dying when thrift shops take over storefronts.”
“still, there is a lingering belief among some central Appalachians that to be educated is to ‘get above your raisin’ a favorite mountain expression for anyone with too much pride.”
“ ‘At first the class complains, ‘Oh, these are like the stories I hear at grandpa’s.’ I say, ‘that’s part of who you are.’ Storytelling keeps the past alive.’”



9/5
I’m visiting my training village family in Lalomauga. Some English words I hear on the radio: “nearest offer, first come, first served, qualifier, new oversize style” I wonder why there is no fa’asamoa for those words. It’s still interesting to hear what words are spoken in English.

Why did you move the banana trees?
Aisea ave ese le fa’i?

My samoan sister made yummy bbq chicken—samoan style. A whole moa samoa sitting on the red hot coals. I ate it with some hot sauce (sosi feu). The man on the radio says “saunoa mai” speak to me.
“fa’atai vai” cross your legs
Pi’ilima” fold your arms
Heads bowed down

O fea sa gata mai ai le lua savaliga?
Where did you two end your walking?

I told them I want to work.
We hiked to the top of a mountain near the village, where Tavale (my samoan sister’s husband) has a taro plantation. The views of the jungle tree tops and ocean in the distance…very nice. I had no camera;( then I was cleaning taro plants—weeding the ivy and grass. I planted some more teapule. Very nice to eat with coconut cream sauce (pe’e pe’e). husking coconuts was a very slippery job. The stick used to get the husk off is called a mele’i. Tavale had to sharpen it three times when I was husking. It amazes me that almost everything a Samoan uses is from nature: coconuts, baskets, stick for husking coconuts. The only thing that is not from nature is the knife (machete), and that allows so much to be done. It amazes me.
The next day I was weeding banana trees.
My Samoan family killed a pig while I was there and I watched the process of cleaning and gutting the pig. I learned what the different parts of the pig are called, and that it is respectful to give the tuala (pig’s back) to the honored guest. I’m just strying to be part of the family. It is a challenge.
I also went to apia with Tavale and bought to bike inner tubes, some patches and some WD-40 for him.

Howard Zinn says let it come to you

in the pics...
MatthewSina: in the training village (Lalomauga). A close up.
Making drum: so I had an adventure in making a Samoan drum (named??). In the picture is Pine. She was pretty good at cutting the bamboo.
Nisuperman: Ni is a little kid in Lalomauga. He is hyper hyper hyper.


9/3
I was reading Howard Zinn’s book “the people speak: voices from a people’s history. A history people’s history of the US”
The italics are my comments…
The cycle of violence…ends with me
Word hard…work smart
Get a good education…pay attention
Follow the rules…make some of your own
And you will be rich…depending on your definition of rich.
Thing oriented society…people rich in relationships and community

I overheard someone say “I didn’t have to teach Samoans how to use a digital camera and CD player. They just figured it out.” Because it’s something they really want to learn—pictures and music.



8/20
I was at Norman’s house. he’s a student at national university of samoa. We were watching a movie: the Hulk. Here are some sentences with words he didn’t know in italicsi.
I’ve always been more curious than cautious. Naunau…careful: paa
This will be a somewhat novel sensation. Strange
None of our test subjects ever survived.
Sending email through cyberspace.
They want to make it a weapon. …meaning the monster
To deserve such aggression.
The mixture could be an abomination.

I miss Andrew.


8/13
There is a huge difference in the “let it come to me” vs. my usual approach at home “go out and find it..make it happen” very different, but I find the “let it come to me” mindset creeping in…it’s how Samoa does things. I’m ignoring people when they say my name…wait, that sounds rude. Samoans are very verbal and ask and ask and ask for things. Sometimes I think they just like to hear their voice. Does that mean I don’t’ like to hear my voice. I seem to be the quietest one at the school.


7/27
Today is the morning of Sunday July, 2008. this is the first day I put a long sleeve anything on …I’m cold. I put the Astoria crossing long sleeve t-shirt on (the one my mom sent me).

Today’s toana’I (brunch) included taro, breadfruit, mackerel, and soup with sheep (mamoe). That was the high end lunch in the village. I showed two kids in the village how to skip smooth rocks (ma’a molemole). They said they had bread for lunch. Just bread. I wished teaching computers had a more direct impact on the economy of my village. It still feels I’m teaching computers just to be teaching computers. We haven’t even done much with integration into other classes.

Police band plays on the pulse

in the pics...
LotuLalomauga: One of the kids in my training village family. He has such big, curious eyes. He is so calm, when many other kids are all over the place.
LotuVilla: Villa is my sister in our training village family. I don’t have many pictures of her. I miss her. Hope to visit during the school holiday.

7/4
Some things really irritate me: the constant wanting to know where I am going, the science teacher not giving me rugby ball back, other things just fill me with compassion: the green basket filled with taro and ulu from the plantation that appears on the bus. We’re doing the best we can. I think we’re doing pretty well.

It is such a different atmosphere between Apia (the “big” city) and the village. It would probably be a shock for a village girl to be in an American “city.”
And then my pule (principal) tells me there are too many cars and dogs. She is from Manono—where I will be going tomorrow to help with a health clinic at another peace corp’s site—where there are no cars or dogs—on the whole island!

Fourth of july party/fiafia/schindig/celebration. A cool police band played star spangled banner and battle hymn of the republic for the flag raising which was all a very formal deal. The fancy (embossed) card (with my misspelled first name) said “fiafia dress” so I wore shorts and a “slick” polo top. (as someone else commented). Most other people wore a nice lavalava and button shirt. I feel more comfortable in shorts. I also didn’t get the invitation until the day I arrived in Apia—July 4th. This is a shoutout to all those people who expect responses snap snap snap…I do not have internet at school. It may take 1-2 weeks for me to get a message. Patience please!!! (fa’amolemole onosa’i). I got a cool American/samoan pin. ..to add to me other pins that I never wear when I dress up..ha ha ha. Note to self: many appetizers and glasses of wine don’t mix well in my stomach.


7/5
Today I was a doctor and measured people’s pulse and respiration. A bunch of PCVs went to an island called Manono—via a single motor boat—about a 20 minute ride. One of the volunteers’ dad is a doctor—so he brought one of his resident assistant and fiancé—who is an audiologist. We also had temp and blood pressure measuring. It is hard to find the pulse of a small child. It is amazing how something as simple as your two fingers can measure something as important as a pulse. I seemed to be the quietest station. There was a lot of laughter at all the other stations.

Mike, a PCV friend—and I went to a movie—Hancock. A pretty OK movie. A lot of violence, but being close makes vulnerable—I like that. And two fingers to measure the cute woman’s pulse.

Yoga thoughts in Samoan

10/11

I can't upload images right now;(

some new poems posted in my writing blog.

I promised I’d write something in my journal after a bit of yoga. The only thoughts I have: 1) flies crawling on my skin are annoying. 2) I remember Baron (my yoga teacher) always saying “use the whole mat in downward dog.” 3)it is very nice to do yoga by the ocean on a Saturday afternoon, nice breeze.

I went to Apia to buy two things for White Sunday—a very large tin of crackers (apa masi) and ice cream cones. I think I got about 90—enough for the whole village. Also in today’s bounty: oat nut rye bread, apples, oranges, Mr. Crisps, PVC pipe glue, a small files for shaping paua shells. Round rubber tubing for a slingshot (ma’ameme).

Three projects that could be started: 1. fixing bikes. I already help one of the year twelve boys clean his bike. 2. Teaching troubleshooting computers to people. Maybe I can teach it to one of the teachers who is interested. 3. reading/writing English for people out of school, but still want to practice.

Some samoan: puipuiaga: prevent.
Sili le puipui I lo le togafitia.
Prevention is better than cure.

O lo’o o’u ta’u atua le sa’o.
I am telling the truth.

Sa faala oe?
Were you in the sun?

O lo’u wila ua gau.
My bicycle is broken.