feelings about samoa, hot flash

This just in today—4/19

A friend looked at my blog, and said “nice pictures, but how do you feel?”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..i guess PC has trained us just to observe, but there are some feelings:

Happy, when I hear the sound of the ocean, swim in the sea, and see the blanket of stars.
Exhilarated, when I zoom down the mountain road on my bike.
Annoyed, when my vice principal always makes jokes.
Irritated, at the VP’s daughter, a six year old who is very loud and “cheeky”
The constant not understanding of the teachers when they talk in the staff room…not sure what the word is for that.
Excited, that my classes (both the students’ and the teachers’ classes) seem to be progressing and I can keep their attention, but computers are cool to begin with.
I miss my mom and grandparents, but this is what I signed up to do, and all the pieces seem to be here to do the job—computers that work, students, and the teacher, and there’s interest too.
Sad, when I see or hear students get hit by teachers at school. it doesn’t promote the kind of learning that is needed.
Giddy, when I see a sweet sunset.
Compressed; my back feels compressed. I’m doing no where near the workout routine I did at home, no ultimate Frisbee, no lifting weights, no two hours of power yoga. People that have a power yoga studio nearby are very lucky. I am doing 50 pushups and some situps every morning after my walk. I’m also doing 20 minutes of yoga every night before I go to bed. It helps me sleep better.
Missing, the crisp chilly air on my skin. In samoa it’s all hot and at night a warm breeze blows off the ocean.
Annoyed, at my sensitive skin. I have rashes in parts of my body I wish I didn’t have rashes.

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 teachers 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..

Rag time drinks Ava with me

in the pics: pictures from my training village's family, me holding a bunch of LONG beans, a view of the yard area, and TJ the three year old in our family.

03/28
The lights got fixed in the computer lab yesterday. Last night we were using a flashlight to use the computers. I guess my principal had enough of that. Tonight it’s late and the lights are still on in the computer lab.

I finished a book called “Ragtime”…very interesting. A book about white and black and how each is treated differently, even if they have the same intentions, actions. Good descriptions. I wrote down some phrases I liked (well, ones i’d like to Google). One thing I noticed is that this book has the big, the small, many many different things. The other book “The Inheritors” focused in on one group of people very closely. Both books were interesting.

“oratory of powerful ideas”
Excitement rising from the audience
What an embarrassed police force did
White slavery problem
Spiritual adventure of life
Victory of the prostitute
American labor movement set back
To have a man in jail
Courage to live
Great farting country
Sacrament of success
Real truth of their relationship
It is the law of wealth
Challenge to her wit
Ambitions aroused once again
Such feelings of dissatisfaction
Becoming competent and useful
Through its neglect
Alert to unexpected events
As a discarded treasure
Something to stir the anger
I have been a socialist all my life
In the middle of brotherhood
Accept totally the situation in which s(he) found herself
Would that transform their lives
This country will not let me breathe
Fate of the working class
Value of the duplicable event
His genius consisted of
Too dumb to make a good living
Not a single unnecessary second
Fierce intolerant eyes
A lust for order
Monarch of the invisible
Barren reaches of unlimited success
Remind him of his humanity
Not an ounce of wit among them
Maintain the illusions of other men
Colony from the gods
Man of homespun tastes
Coordination of capital resources
Coordination of human resources
Belief in a secret wisdom
No patience with the two dollar words
In his quiet secret games
Surroundings did not awe him/her
Did not act or talk like a colored man
Conflict of their wills
Intensity of expectation
Of all the orators (s)he was the best
Problem that would only adhere to a negro
Assumption of social equality
Out of his constant sorrow
Into a state of solemn joy
Discover a life of genius
One white face looks just like another
Matter of the mad coon
Watchful coon eyes
Invented a barony for himself immigrant power
Alive to every moment
Enormously pleasurable to see the world
Most famous negro


3/21
It feels a little strange sitting around drinking ava with three men from the village called Lalomauga. That was my first time just casually drinking ava. The four times b4 have all been during formal ava ceremonies. This time today, sitting on the mat, trying to catch a few words of meaning, reminded me of sitting in a fale drinking beer with three of the village matais in SAvaià the village where my school is) a few days ago. They were most interested in Asking me about my political opinions—strangely enough. Caught me a little off guard. And my reluctance to name a democratic winner made them more pushy to know my opinion.

“this is a military road” I heard the man say…as we walked across branches to keep from sinking into the swampy mud. I wondered if my grandpa had faced similar obstacles—“military roads” when he was in the military…except I’m not in the military.

I can say now that I will not miss the constant mosquitoes, the rocks on the ground that I twist my ankle on or hyperextend my knee on almost daily.

And the flies, that for some reason like my feet and ankles. At any one time there are between 2 and 6 flies on my feet. I always notice them it’s just that I don’t try to flick/shoo them away anymore.

harder work for rugby makes the third langauge

pics: Three pics of Emmi, the Vice Principal's daughter. She is 6, in year 1, has a very loud voice, and is very outspoken, and is good at teaching me new samoan words.

3/5
I met the pastor (fei’feau) of a village called Falese’ela. They have a house palagià just like in America. Their names are Salika (wife) and Tuitoga. They are really nice. They said I could come over whenever I wanted to eat dinner. They have a computer that is six years old—really old in computer world. They said it is really slow.

I came back to the school to do a workout—and ended up having my first rugby lesson. Leaga mataio lakapi. I’m not very good at rugby, but I’m sure I’ll get many chances to practice.

Fun with rashes…wearing clothes more than once=bad bad bad.

A low grade sweat—not baptiste, I’m always damp—and where it’s dark and damp, yummy things grow.

Year12 at school is reading a novel called “the Pearl” by john Steinbeck…sounds good, and hard.

Observation: I see the power of observation when I see the visitor’s from seattle. The PC training took great pains to instill observation in us. It feels like it is ingrained in me now. Just sitting and watching is so different than jumping in to start a project. I am a watch and wait person—probably fear of disrespecting people.

I’ve realized the different styles of leadership at my last 2 places of work. The ymca in boston: one director was an in your face person, and the other director was very laid back. I had a better relationship with the laidback director.


2/26
So much for working out…after school finished at 2pm, and I was done sitting in on an English teachers meeting at 3pm, I went to my room and laid down. I didn’t get up until 7pm. 8pm is dinner time. I always seem sleepy, thirsty, and stuffed up.

New learning for the day: to’aga means hard worker. The net on the protection of privacy in working life in Finland says an employer can’t Google (do online research) on a potential employee, yeah, right…how does that ever get tracked. I’m sure employers do it all the time—even if from a public computer. I would Google a potential employee.

Everyday it hits me a little deeper—how much different Samoan culture is than my culture. I’m sitting in one of the Lefaga buses, waiting for it to go to my village. I missed the first buy (pasi muamua), so a nice two hour wait for the next one. The bus driver and another man are on the but—talking and talking and talking…I just want to write in my journal and read my magazine. They tell you about it in PC training, but it is so different to sit and listen to it, to sit and daydream about it…to sit day in and day out and live it.

Another example of my eye acting better than my camera—or maybe me just not knowing how to set my camera correctly. Sitting on bus at fish market, three busses from the water. Try to focus in on the pattern of the water—no good/leaga hmmmmmm..ask my friend heather how to get a good picture.

What does the word halfcaste make you think of? A derogative term? Negative connotations? That’s what I thought. A halfcaste is someone who is half Samoa and half something else—NZ, Australia, Chinese, American. Having “connections with palagis” is a good thing, a status thing I guess.

The “why” samoans don’t do why. I ask why and they shrug just because (pau lava). Sometimes really frustrating to me.
Just joking” ahhhhh my vice principal always wants to joke with me. Sometimes hard when I’m not in the jokingest mood.

Mania sitisiti—good weight lifting at Matafa’a, the science teacher’s village, a walk and a boat ride from my school building.

It still amazes me how I can pack the food away and my wrists get thinner, my waist grows smaller—I think I’m a 30 waist now. Tonight I ate yams with coconut sauce, mackerel, chicken in curry sauce and some pig. Then a banana for good measure. I ahd an orange before dinner too.

Before dinner I saw a double rainbow while (tele timu) much rain. Then I went for a bike ride (finally have my old pedals and bar ends on and brakes). It was a good wet ride. Then a dip in the ocean before shower and dinner, then moe—sleep.

New word for the day (pa le manava) means very very fully full—a piggy eyes bigger than stomach.

I’m reading another book I think is pretty good “teaching English as a foreign language to large multicultural classes.” Good advice #1: listen, understand, adjust.” #2: keep your sentences short. (my advice #3: think very carefully about what you write on the blackboard.)

Teaching a skill, having a mentor, learning about your roots. 3 things a friend told me helps kids stay resilient. Hmmmmm…something for later.

English as a second language “computers as a third language”

When I heard my principal say “you know English is our second language,” I knew that I should look at ESL resources more.

Segmentation of language—one samoan word can have 3,4,5 meanings in English. (eg. Malo= ok, good, win, yep). I wonder how the samoan culture would change if there was a different word for everything.

Beginner reads New World Finn

in the pics: a grave in front of my Samoan family's house (with a big clam shell on the top of it), a busy day in Apia (cars and busses), me trying to catch the reflection of the water through the windows of the busses as we wait at the fish market.

2/25
Today: had Suimai lead hangman. I want the students to lead more activities. She did well.

Had teachers tutorial—2 hours—I lectured about hardware, did worksheet, talked about the homerow, then we did a mouse tutorial, finally Typershark, the typing program I use at school. We did a lot. I’m proud of the teachers.

Got some sleep, switched the brakes on my bike!! Now right hand brake is the rear brake, also put my old pedals on my bike (the ones with toe straps) for the many hills in samoa.

Now I sip ginger tea, milk, and honey. Today was a good day.

Another product straight from USA—Louisiana hot sauce. Supposedly “one drop does it” but I put 12 or 15 drops on my curried mutton, pig, and taro tonight. It’s not really that hot.

No fa’ipula (ripe bananas)—not much, of a breakfast. Heavy food—I still am losing weight. I’m being fed well though. Heard to get veggies and fruit.

I’ll never get used to flies on my ankles. I wonder what they find so exciting about my ankles. I guess a constant sweat would do it.

I’ve been talking with Leiataua about the kids’ ability to express themselves, not only in English, but even in Samoan. When kids grow up never being given the opportunity to share their thoughts/expression of themselves, getting to secondary school with that expectation won’t happen. It feels like two different forces pulling at the kids: express yourselfß student àdo as you’re told.

Some things I miss: getting hugs (my ASC friends are very good huggers; tasting yogurt on my tongue; the smell of good Mexican food; ice cold milk (the 1% Garlick farms kind); my special smoothie; playing tennis; talking about deeper stuff—other than where I am from and how many people are in my family and if I have a girlfriend/wife or not; crisp cold sunny NE weather; a good game of ultimate Frisbee; having some quiet and alone time; hiking on Indian head trail with mom; playing tiles with my grandparents.


2/21
My mom sent me a copy of a finnish newspaper called “new world Finn” words I like: literacy, persistence, cooperation.

I think it’s going to be hard for me to respect teachers who hit kids. I remember giving a hard stare to the principal after the smack down on Friday. I know Samoan culture is very big on respect, but I don’t think teachers should hit kids...end of my story. So this is the situation and I guess I’ll be staring hard a lot..whatever.

I just finished writing (by hand) my lesson plan for the week. All my handwritten stuff is scratches and sketchesàthe computer makes it neat. Maybe teachers will get to the point where we can type out weekly plans. One of the teachers finished typing her yearly plan last week. I was very impressed.

Samoans really like violence it appears more in newspapers. Cant’ we just skit the violence? Samoan culture is ahead of American culture in many ways.

Samoans always ask me for money—and never pay it back—although my samoan father paid me back, but already there are three other instances of giving and not being paid back. (update…well this is the way it is…I don’t give money anymore).

(Ou te misia lava outou) I miss you all. I think it’s finally sinking in how long I’m going to be here. But also how much work I have to do—teaching wise.


2/19
mmmm..the latest package from my mom arrived today…4 packages of sour things, 2 pillow cases with Finnish on them, power adapter, 2 sun magazines (good reading), 2 bags of rubber bands, foot fungus killer, a finnish newspaper, news from home (large storm ravages, LNG debates boil over), and a valentine day’s card. Make that two—I got one from my grandma and grandpa too. (mealofa lo’u tina I Amerika)

being a total beginner. My students are total beginners. I’m still backing up up up up…up right now we are learning how to use the shift key to make capital letters—or should I say I assumed they already knew how to do that. I’m surprised everyday—how much computer knowledge is ingrained into me, and pulling it out (sometimes kicking and screaming) can be a challenge.

I’ve had the first quizzes—and collected the computer books students write notes in. very interesting to see what gets into their books. ONLY what I write on the board or have on a diagram. One student had “computer stutles” instead of computer studies on her cover. I mentioned that if they have good typing skills, it would be easier to find a job. Only one person answered that correctly on the quiz. The finnish language has a lot of long words and names. I hadn’t seen any long words or names in Samoa until this one:
Lauiulaaepouitoalefalenaiamoa—a woman’s name.

Eseroma (the vice principal) says it's very expensive for parents to come to principal to ask for forgiveness for their kids smoking at school. It’s a respect thing I guess. Not sure if it’s a saving face kind of thing. My principal said she will give one more chance out of respect for the parents—not the kids. Kids get more slaps and 5 days of hard labor—cutting grass with a machete.

2/17
It’s 11pm Sunday evening and I feel like crap (lots of green stuff coming out of my nose) so this may be short. Yes, I did get this yucky bug from my weekend adventures.

Friday I was swimming in the bay inspecting giant clams with my (Samoan) dad. Some are more than 10 years old. The fisheries department help set it up. One was dead—we wondered why. Sun sets over flashy silvery, blue, gold, orange reflection of water. I also saw a whole pile of rocks stuck together with cement and a cinder block with wire and cement—to simulate coral and try to regrow it—a lot of coral loss=a lot of fish and other sea life dying. Had second dinner with visitors from Australia.

Sat was my first paopao experience. Paopao is a Samoan Canoe—with a stabilizer bar running along side. I don’t know the technical term. I went to stay with the science teacher’s family across the bay at a village called Matafa’a. very pretty. Very small—only one small store. Very shallow water—close to the coral. Met family, and then rowed out past the reef to the open ocean. (I think I may have already typed this_) so a long story short: the shirt I’m wearing gets wet, wind howls, I get cold with cold, wet shirt=getting sick.

Bourne Identity has shopping list

in the pics: a double rainbow looking out from the front of my school, my 9.2 students a moment before my class started, an example of how my blackboard looks after a class.

2/13
Today was a good day. I woke up about 6:15am, went for a short walk before the students start to arrive around 7am. I wore my new green lavalava—it’s fancy with silver buckles and the sewing is well done too. Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is an assembly—the students line up in a military style formation and march and turn and march and turn and get inspected for proper uniform, dress, and hair length, and clean fingernails. Wednesday is also time for reading during first period. I observed Ms. Afato’s class read a book. There were words to study—like “whispers” and “chapter.”

I had two computer classes, 9.1 and 9.2. my principal told me that all of the kids and Lefaga Seconday School are the ones who did not go to Apia to private/mission schools—made it sound like we have the “leftovers.” That’s OK—I see possibility. This week’s topics in my class have been rules and procedures 4 words (discover, learn, create, share. It’s interesting to see the students’ responses to my asking if anyone knows the meanings of the words.

I tell my class I will help them with English (and computers) if they help me with Samoan. A few new words: activity—galuega. Review—otootoga. Routine/procedure—fa’atonuga/fa’agasologa.

Breakfast was peanut butter and weet-bix (a New Zealand thing)—I usually have bananas with that, but sadly, no ripe bananas (fai’pula) have we today. Lunch (in two parts, because I have some food in my fridge to fill in the gaps when Samoans don’t eat). The palagi part: rye bread, mayonnaise, white chedder, and tomatoes—yummy. The Samoan part: a piece of taro, boiled banana with coconut cream sauce, and a piece of mackerel. Dinner was moa palagi, breadfruit, cucumber, and chili sauch (the VP and science teacher really like it. American chickens do less work when they sit in cages all the time, so more meat. Samoan chickens are VERY free range…ranging all over the yard and other parts of the village.

After school I was finally starting to figure out how I could track students’ progress in an Excel document, but my laptop charger decided to not work;( I think there is a short in the cord somewhere. So I put hot rocks on my back and lay outside my room for a while (that felt nice;), read my book (right now it’s called Ragtime—recommended by another volunteer), then I did some sprints, then a swim in the ocean—an odd effect—water is about 4-5 feet deep. At the bottom the water is very warm, at the top it’s very cold, it has a white haze. Someone said it’s because there is a stream feeding into the ocean right at that spot. Then the four teachers living at the school had dinner, I had a shower, and now I write to you. Later I’ll do some yoga because I sleep better after yoga, then maybe a snack and sleep.

And this cat, who just waltzed into my room truly fa’asamoa—no asking well—he was meowing as he walked in. he reminds me of Kismet, long and slender, big paws, and big eyes, big ears, and a big loud mouth.

A sampling of my shopping list—talcum power, Christmas lights, funnel (for my tea), staples, toothpicks, hangers, tomatoes, milk, weetBix, and cheese.

The moon (masina) doesn’t stay in the sky very long in the South Pacific—it seems to be gone by 9:30pm. Tonight a giant halo of white surrounds the moon. Eseroma told me Samoans believe when that happens, many fish to be caught.

I’m finally getting a routine down for the school thing: wake up about 6:30am, walk (to store if needed), eat breakfast, I’ve found I really like fresh ginger tea/honey/milk, get dressed for school (button shirt and nice lavalava). Go to staff room for check in. classes start at 8:30am. Lunch break (interval) at 11:30am, then periods 4 and 5. do some exercise: run, ride my bike, or swim. I haven’t tried all 3 yet—as in triathalon. Try to fix any broken computers, eat dinner with teachers that live at the school building (faleaoga). A few students make the dinner (fai le saka). Right now it’s Sandra and James. Then finish any preparations for the next days lesson, read something (I now have 3 sun magazines!), do some yoga (helps me sleep better) and candles are cool, not, well, you know what I mean. I like candles. And sleep (moe), by 12:30am usually. I try really hard…if I don’t fall asleep on the floor first.



2/11
First real day of teaching—well, only two classes, but that was enough for now. Dinner was yummy. My weekly (handwritten) plan is too messy I’m told by our VP. “use your ruler.” Well, that’s why I do most things seen by other people on a computer. “but sometimes the power is off and computers uma (finished).” Well, then we malolo (rest) until the power decides to come back.

Looking at the list of departments and HOD (head of depts.)—there are three teachers listed under almost every department—english, samoan, maths, science, art, commerce. There is only one teacher listed for the computer dept…M Crichton. My big goal b4 I leave is to have ideally two2 and realistically one Samoan teacher who can also teach computers. Teacher tutorial starts next week.

I think I’ll feel better when I know the students’ abilities. Just after one day I can tell which students might do well and which might need extra help, and which might not care at all.



2/8
How I feel now: a 1000 images flash past super fast, like one of those times in movies when the pictures speed up up up and up. I’m still unpacking image #3. You know how sometimes you see many images flash b4 your eyes? Well, at least in the movies?—that’s how I feel right now—many many many new things. And not much time to process, daydream, and just space out.

I’m finding I really don’t like to plan far into the future—like the yearly plan the teachers are supposed to complete for each class we teach. I was teaching computers and science, but I guess we have enough teachers and I only have to teach computers: year 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1, and 11.2=12 classes each week, one hour each. Now if only I could get the power supply to work on one of the computers. I walked into the lab this afternoon and started sweating (afu)—it felt like a Baptiste yoga room—hot hot hot, thos computers are going to fry. mmmmmm, fried chicken, speaking of fried stuff, I eat a lot of fried fish and chicken and sausages with my Samoan family, but no fried food with my family at the school building. (faleaoga).
This afternoon—finished the first draft of the yearly plan. Uma, finished, done—taimi malolo.

Warm beer—warm beer, where’s the cold beer. My samoan dad likes to drink beer with me before dinner. He likes warm beer and I like cold beer. Four bottles of warm beer arrived tonight—into the fridge (really a freezer).

I watched the Bourne Identity. The killing machine looks into child’s eyes—all circuits scramble “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Five new teachers stood in front of all the district teachers (about 30) and said we said our name, where/what we teach, how old we are, and no, I’m not married right now, but I might as well be.

I’m starting the teachers’ computer training soon. I think I want to push to try and give them basic knowledge first, then do some practical projects/activities, then try and figure out how to use computers with their subjects, and finally figure out who could teach computers to students.

Imago Dei's 1000 conversations

Imago dei church in Portland…I’ve been listening to some sermons I downloaded from the internet…gotta love the internet…here are some thoughts I like…
There is one sermon called “1000 conversations, part 3” that I really like…have listened to it about 5 times.

Breathe
Rhythm of worship
Picture of devotion
Worship starts when we can accept that god made me
Is your soul dying,…is the air running out if you keep going down that path

It is an assumption that you love yourself
Heart by heart, and life by life…put the world back together
In the economy of god
I am what I am by the grace of god
Communityàaffinity

Abraham, hope of our faith>>>>>>>>another sermon
Start letting this story shape your reality, today
We don’t need to get our act together to get good with God
Are you a miserable Christian?
We don’t think much about the “endgame”
What causes your stress, what do you get excited about, what are you anticipating
We are hoping in “our preferred future”
The faith thing is a slower process
We live in a world that promises immediacy
What do you do when the promise is not fulfilled?
Hope in God, not the world.
We’re really good at staring at the cabinet, in a world that really needs to be restored.
We treat this world as though it is our hope.??
We treat our faith as though god will give us the perfect life.
Faith….smack dab in the middle of the mess
How does our faith engage our hope
What do you hope for?....meansàWhat is it in your life that gives you security?