bluegreen water hides flying fish

in the pics: many many samoan foods from last year, when the supervisors came for our year12 schoolC examinations, there's palusami, raw fish, pieces of beef, bbq chicken, taro, sea eel + other stuff I can't remember; my training village family had a baby, and named it after me...so it's matthew and matthew looking at you; two young boys from my training village family Lotu and TJ.

1/28
It’s a Saturday morning. …Words and pictures cannot describe how it feels to be sitting here right now. A blue-green crystal clear ocean stretches out before me. the tide is going out. I can tell because the tops of those rocks are now above water. 20 minutes ago they were not. Orange-brown-yellow leaves float in front of me. reminds me of the fall season. The only reminder . (the light breeze) I hear the rustle (it’s almost like a gentle clap) of the coconut leaves. Not the tall monsters that sway gently over all. These are more like bushes, and line the top of the rock wall in front of my samoan family’s house.

The light breeze that ruffles the coconut leaves also creates gentle ripples that hide the fish so well. First two larger fish with black stripes, then a single fish, and a whole school of fish who swim here and there, turning their silvery bodies to reflect the sunlight. Sometimes I don’t know if I’m seeing fish, or just the ripple of the rocks underwater.

Ahhh…whaat a life. One day I can be swinging a machete and planting (toto) taro up in the plantation. The next day I can be floating in the ocean, my spear at the ready, looking for that next big fish for dinner. My samoan-style fishing needs a lot of practice, so more often than not the fish escape, to grow bigger for the next, better-aiming fisherman.

The sun is sneaking around the coconut leaves. My feet are exposed. I think it’s time to move to a fale. I’m waiting for someone to bring my camera so I can pu tpics on a CD for them.