Good intentions.......

Toby in his lavalava 

Zak snorkelling at Lalomanu

Izak dancing with his classmates during Samoan week. 

My good intentions to regularly blog are gathering dust along with my list of potential topics….the food, the culture, the language, the history. There are so many interesting elements to this little island nation which we are out trying to experience, leaving little time to write about them. That, school holidays and the steady stream of visitors has limited blogging action, but given us more time to work through our list of places to see and things to do.

Mick on one of the Pappasea sliding rocks

Steep steps down to the sliding rocks

Over the past few weeks we have visited  “Return to Paradise” beach (the beautiful location of the 1953 movie), the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum located in his stately home Vailima (where he lived in the 1890s) and the Pappasea sliding rocks (lava tubes with a series of waterfalls). We have also experienced Samoan week at the kids school, where they learnt traditional cooking, songs and dancing and the Aggie Grey's fiafia night (twice, at the new resort and the original location in Apia, the latter far more enjoyable and for some reason much more affordable). Return visits to the To sua ocean trench (third time round, no key mishaps this time- our second trip involved a "missing" car key and an offer to search for it for money, with the key quickly turning up when we refused to pay) and Lalomanu have rounded out our time. 

Lunch at Sails. Note the size of the ocean liner in the background,
which dwarfed the harbour during it's visit. 

Paul floating in front of fales (far-lay) at Lalomanu

A village church on White sunday

White Sunday, an annual event where children are given pride of place and celebrated through church and family activities also occurred a week ago, coinciding with a visit by a huge ocean liner. The little city of Apia was overrun on the day before with White Sunday shoppers and American tourists (all 2600 of them), increasing the usual Saturday market mayhem ten fold. It was a crazy weekend. Everywhere children attended church with their families, dressed in their best white clothing.  

We also attended our first palagi charity event where Pamela Stephenson Connolly donated 40 Mena dresses (a top designer here) to be auctioned. Ms Stephenson Connolly has apparently spent much time here in Samoa making documentaries. People whispered of some associated scandal relating to the “friend” she made while here.  We did our bit by donating back a prize (2 litre bottle of Jim Beam) to be auctioned off, raising almost 200 tala. It felt very odd to be in an environment that consisted of mostly white expats from Australia and New Zealand. 

With only seven weeks to go until we return home to Queensland, we are editing and revising the remaining items on our list of things to see and do: The Baha’i temple, Fagaloa Bay, Manono Island (small and very traditional island), the hike out to Lake Lanoto’o (a lake in a volcano crater with wild goldfish placed there by the Germans who colonised Samoa in the late 1800s/early 1900s) and perhaps another trip to Savai’I remain.

With this deadline of sorts looming, I am also finding my mind turning to home.

Returning to work (after acting in positions other than my own for five years, I am curious to see what impact this six month hiatus has on the role I am placed in- hopefully none!), finding a rental property (as we wisely rented ours out for 12 months on a whim thinking it will break our housing inertia and get us thinking about buying another house- not quite sure how sensible this was!), catching up with family and friends, Christmas and settling the children back into our lives at home are occupying our thinking more and more.  Suggested strategies for responding to this from facebook friends include banishing these thoughts from my mind, and straight out denial. Useful, as I feel very conflicted.

This experience does not feel as though it is “done” yet. We have met so many lovely people who we now regard as friends, including people from Samoa and abroad. Our way of life here is active but slow, inclusive yet family focussed, organised yet the best times have been impromptu. For me personally, I have gained  confidence in just getting out there and doing what I need to, regardless of being on my own, language barriers or how I felt about the many mistakes I have made in trying to work out how to organise what our family has needed in a foreign country. 

Living in a society where you are the minority has challenged us to look, listen and try to understand the way of life here. It is easy enough to visit the many beautiful locations, but anther thing altogether to take in the history and traditions. This place is so much more than a fiafia night (welcome dances and often including fire dancing held at many resorts) or a gorgeous beach. Five months has only really allowed us to skim the surface. Reality (a euphemism for finances) dictate that we will return home, but Paul and I both feel as though we will be back. 

Such a reflective blog today!! I will try to get more up this week.........

The fortnight of visitors - Part two: Savai'i

Sunday came and we boarded the ferry to go to Savai’i, the largest of the Samoan islands. More traditional in some ways, there is no real urban lifestyle on Savai’i as there is on Upolu, where we live.  About 20-25% of the Samoan population live on Savaii. The terrain is more varied, and many of the attractions have formed from the island’s volcanic history. The last eruption of Mt Silisili was in 1911, but tourists we spoke to told us they saw smoke coming from the mountain that very morning. Yikes.

The kids sitting out the ferry ride from Upolu to Savai'i

Apolima Island- a volcanic crater with steep sides. On one side the crater has collapsed, leaving a small opening into the centre. A small village of about 20 people is located there. 

The ferry ride is a vast improvement on our previous experience in 2006. On the old ferry, there were bench seats. Wisened by years of similar travels, the locals ran on and claimed a bench by lying down on it for a snooze. We were left with minimal seating options for the then two hour trip, and ended up claiming the back of a rusty old truck. 

Savaii ferry circa 2006. Two hour trip sitting in the back of an old truck due to lack of other seating. 

Plenty of seats this time round, and no benches to lie down on. 

Arriving at our accommodation at Salelologa (which I say often, simply because I can), we found ourselves in a rainforest paradise, with the blue lagoon to boot (Lusia’s lagoon chalets, highly recommended!). Plans to get out and see as much as we could quickly went out the window as we settled onto the deck, cracked a few Vailimas and an obligatory cocktail or two. Paul and I raced each other to get at the hot water shower, the first either of us has had in almost three months.

Our preferred haunt at Lusia's. 

Tui, who looked after both us and our kids.

Even sitting a few metres from the water we could see the fish life around the deck and our unit- considerately placed right over the water, and right next to our beer garden/deck. Jumping off the deck, snorkelling, canoeing and eating rounded the day out nicely thank you very much. We also found ourselves getting excellent care from the host Tui, who immediately took the kids to show them the fresh water pool hidden in the trees, and bought back portions of Pulasami (coconut cream backed in taro leaves) from his family’s Sunday lunch so we could try it.  His stories about being bundled into cars to get to the family plantation, safe form the tsunami that hit on 29 September 2009 were very sobering.

Our unit, with ladder directly down into the water. 

Angel fish, or Scar as they were called by our kids (from Nemo).

Our friend the coconut thrower in 2010, $30 tala richer.

Same guy back in 2006. I am pretty sure the going rate back 

then was $10 tala. Steep inflation.

The next day we got out to the Alofaaga blow holes, where we paid 30 tala for an old guy to throw some coconuts into a hole and watch them emphatically being thrown into the air by the force of the waves. The drenching received by Paul and Mr Harte as they went out for a closer look made the 30 tala seem cheap for such entertainment.

Paul and Dave getting closed to the action at the Blow holes. 
A major drenching followed this photo closely.....

We raced back and the boys went off to the other side of the island to dive an 1800s wreck, still in tact and only a 2 min boat ride from the shore. The London Missionary Service boat had hit a reef when being driven (?) by their drunk captain.  Both divers proclaimed it amazing and amazingly cheap. Paul's blog (paulinthepacific.blogspot.com) will eventually fill you in on that one. 

We girls entertained ourselves by jumping off the deck with the children, repeatedly. Simple pleasures! Best invention of the day was Bella’s dramatic, gymnastic style entry and exits, which we all promptly adopted, and involved shouting "Pre-sent!!" with arms in the air. Vailimas and Samoan spiders were well earned that night. I discovered a pair of Angel fish swimming under the units, and lost hours watching them move through the water. A big rainstorm cooled the temperature and sent us all to sleep that night.

The drive to the lava fields. Such a chore. 

On our final day, we made our way back over the other side of the island to the Saleula lava fields. Highlights were the London Missionary Service church that was overtaken by a lava flow in 1905. These guys really could not get a break. Built in 1897, the lava flowed in the front door of the church, the heat bringing down the roof and smashing windows. The impressions of the corrugated iron can still be seen, along with patterns formed by the lava pooling and moving as it came into contact with walls. Graffiti dating from 1923 to the current day can be seen on the walls of the church. Very interesting sight, made more so by the well informed lady from the village who took us around. They are the only ones from the village that remain on their land. 

Our guide at the LMS church overtaken by lava in 1905.

Corrugation iron patterns in the lava inside the church.

LMS church (thanks for the suggested interp Monique- I think it works!)

We saw only a small portion of what Savai’i has to offer and fully intend to back again before we leave.  An hour long ferry trip back and we were back on Upulo, which bring us to part three of our week of visitors……. .

The fortnight of visitors - Part one: Mt Vaea

The view from Mt Vaea

We have been very busy over the past week or two hosting family and friends, a state that will continue for another few weeks yet. This has included the Harte family and my sister, Sam. We have therefore been busy getting out and about to see those special sites we saved to share with others.  

So here is a multi-part snapshot of what we have been up to:

Climbing Mt Vaea

The Samoan Medical Association had a charity event on the first Saturday of the Harte’s visit. Grabbing a group of newly found friends from the expat group, we jumped at the chance to participate and climb Mt Vaea, a hill behind Apia with a 470 odd metre rise. Not so kindly, we prevailed on the Hartes to join us, ignoring the fact that they had only arrived that morning, were very tired, and had yet to acclimatise.

Mt Vaea is best known as the final resting place of the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, who had lived in Samoa for four years before passing away in 1894. Much loved by locals, he was called “tusitala” or storyteller. His body was carried up the mountain and buried beneath a monument with sweeping views of Apia and it’s harbour. 

We all chose to climb the “steep” path, taking 40 minutes up very steep steps and paths before making it to the monument. The reward at the end of the hot, muddy and difficult path was the cool breezes, amazing view and shady grassed areas where we stopped to recover. It was not difficult to see why he had chosen this spot for his burial.

The Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial on Mount Vaea and some exhausted hikers. 

When we had recovered enough to attempt the downward path, we sensibly opted for the less steep pathway, taking over an hour to make it down. We found a waterfall and rock pool at the bottom, and picnicked on the banks.  

The rockpool at the base of Mt Vaea- Apuala's tears (see below)

I am now somewhat foolishly contemplating running back up the slow path for exercise, though have not managed to turn this into action just yet.

When we got home, Jenny (the manager) told me there was an old Samoan legend about Vaea, who was a fierce warrior who was somehow turned to stone, with his wife Apaula’s tears forming the waterfall and pool we swam in. As she wasn’t sure of all the details, I googled the story……..(much of what follows is taken verbatim from the Samoan Sensation website- a person had posted their recollection of the story and I found I couldn’t do it justice if I shortened it).

Vaea’s parents saw a sail boat on day, and fearing it was another tribe coming to challenge their son, they ran to get Vaea. The crew were found to be sleeping, and Vaea lifted the boat including the crew into a tree. Upon waking the next day they were frightened, and offered up their sister to be Vaea’s wife in order to save their themselves.

Her name was Apaula.

These people were from Fiji and they stayed in the district for many years serving Vaea.  When pregnant with his child, Apaula managed to convince Vaea to let her brothers go back to their homeland. Upon agreeing, the brothers begged Vaea if they could take Apaula back to Fiji with them one more time before she makes Samoa her home for good. Vaea was afraid that Apaula might not come back refused, but after much persuation, he gave in finally to what his wife wanted. So he said his good-byes and bade his wife to return to him.

The story goes that as the boat sailed off into the horizon, Vaea stood by the seashore. He stood there until he couldn't see their boat and waited there for days on end waiting for his wife's return. Meanwhile, the brothers after years of planning vengeance on Vaea, finally had their way when Apaula gave birth on the way to Fiji. Ending Vaea's line before it started, the brothers killed the baby and threw his body to the sea. Apaula was devastated.

Upon reaching Fiji, the brothers stopped Apaula from returning. Apaula was however, determined to escape back to Samoa to avenge the death of her child. Meanwhile, years went by and Vaea realised that Apaula was not coming back to him. He refused to move from where he stood to say good-bye to Apaula and eventually, the story goes that he turned into a rock which slowly built up into a mountain from his feet. Still, his eyes focussed on the horizon for the return of Apaula.

Apaula did manage to escape and upon reaching Samoa, she found that all of Vaea has turned into a mountain except his head. Realising she came too late, she told Vaea of the death of their son and her plan to avenge his death. Vaea not having much time to live, told her that she go to Savaii to his brother Vaatausili and he will avenge the death of their son. After saying that, Vaea said his final goodbye to his wife and he turned into a mountain... Mt Vaea.

Apaula left without a husband and son, cried by his head as he turned into a mountain and legend has it that her tears found a path that became a river which is known as Loimata o Apaula.

Beautiful.

More to come.........

Bits and Pieces

This week we are eagerly awaiting the first of our guests, who arrive early Saturday morning. We have held off on many of the more amazing touristy experiences so we can share them with the series of people who will be with us over the next two months.

We have visited Pappasea sliding rocks, old lava tubes that have been turned into a tourist attraction; Lanomalu beach in the south of the island, an incredibly beautiful location which was absolutely devastated by the tsunami last year; and Palolo deep marine reserve, a great spot for snorkeling. Oh and the turtle feeding pools.

This however, only represents a small portion of what there is to see and do here. We start on Sunday with a few days on Savai'i, commonly known here as the big island. Samoa is made up of about nine islands, only three of four of which are inhabited. Most people live on Upolu, where we are. Savai'i is the larger of the islands and the next in terms of population size. It is also more traditional with no urban living, all villages. An hour and a half ferry ride and three days to explore- it will be heaven. I look forward to posting more photos.

Other news to report:

We have experienced our first athletics carnival, Samoa style. Elaborate signs, colourful t-shirts with screen printed designs, a marching competition complete with dance moves, chants and drums. The rain held off long enough for the kids to run their races, only starting again while the parents were running a novelty relay. I got soaked but the kids had a ball.

 Blue house. They creatively screen printed their shirts with the words
"blue". I love the bandannas. Check out the little palagi front and centre.

Each house, named after a native samoan bird,
developed screen printed designs (they do this every year-
it's a great idea) and worked up a different way of marching in, with chants,
dance moves and drumming. For green house, one of the teachers
dressed as a dove.

Yellow house during the chanting competition.

Red house- I included this one because of the kid in
the middle who busted out the gang fingers.
I met the him during the first week where he said to me
"Are you that palagi with the two palagi brothers in
year two and four?". Yep, that's me.

I have been a regular user of the National Library of Samoa, but finding myself stumped by the cataloguing system. Have included a photo here of a sample - clothes construction, beauty, nature, management, computer information systems, outdoor recreation and advertising reference books all sitting side by side.

Example of the cataloguing system at the
National Library of Samoa. Not really seeing the themes here.......

National Library of Samoa. The posters are of the first stages
of the German colony in about 1900. The legacy of the germans
can be seen in the observatory, the typical girl's school uniforms
(which look like lederhosen with a skirt), and a certain slap happy
style to some of the local dances.
 

We have made friends with the street sellers who are present every day at the kids school, selling either popcorn or boc choy. Some of the kids are very young and while they tell me they go to school I find it hard to believe. I struggle with an inclination to give them money everyday - the minimum wage here, earnt by most unskilled workers is $2.50 tala an hour, equating to about $100 tala a week, less then $50 aussie. It's difficult to begrudge a child what amounts to 50c for us, so I aim to buy a packet of popcorn or two at least once a week. This week, it was absolutely pouring rain, so I bought four packs, and let her keep the change. I then watched from the dry car while she changed the five tala note over to two 2s and pocketed the remaining dollar. When an older lady called out to her to see if she had made a sale, she waved the four tala at her, keeping her dollar concealed. Learning so early. She had earlier told me that she is only eight.

Two of the little girls that sell popcorn after school.
They speak very little English outside of a few catchphrases
(I be seeing you!) but are still able to be cheeky.
The little girl in the front often asks me how old I am
(I am of course 25), or if I am a boy, which she thinks
is very funny. She did know enough English to serenade Paul 
and I with a Justin Beiber song one day. Samoa loves Justin Beiber. 
Check the covert gang fingers.

Street sellers at the school in the pouring rain.
 On this day they were selling boc choy.
The hot guy in the scrubs is Paul.

Today we have experienced our first earthquake which is apparently a regular occurrence here, though not at a level that is often noticed. This one was big enough to shake the floor and the table at which we were sitting, and lasted about 30 seconds. Bizarre. And vaguely concerning!

And lastly.......amazingly, next week we hit the half way mark. I can't believe it has gone so quickly. Eleven weeks to go.

Connections

I have stolen this photo from Paul- sorry sweetheart. It shows just how long and deep the commitment to Rugby is here- any flat surface will produce a game. The boys meet regularly to play at this location, basically just a grass verge along the side of the road. They are the world sevens champs after all.

Raining Samoan cats and dogs...and yes, Neil, they are big f@#$ers!

Hector the gigantic gecko. I swear he is at least 20cm long. He has now taken up residence in our bedroom, and watching him leap about to try to catch moths or other bugs, I am fearful he will fall on me in the night. Not quite the dainty leaps of the little geckos.

It hasn't taken me long to realise that packing up to live in another country can be a bit lonely until you build connections with others. My first big bout of homesickness a few weeks ago reminded me of just how isolated it feels when you are away from your family and friends. We have since gotten to know several other people and families in the same boat as us, albeit all with very different stories to tell.

It is not hard to identify other expats- living in a country like Samoa, we tend to stand out. There are plenty of tourists here but outside of the main beach road strip and the larger hotels, you don’t see too many other palagis (palangis- non samoans) living in the suburbs. Those of us living here wear thongs, don’t wear lavalavas (unless it is the formal lavalava worn by men in business settings) and don’t walk while we are eating (a big cultural no-no here). The tourists, in their lavalavas, walking shoes and sunburns look like what they are. I feel smug that I will not be persuaded to buy a Samoan Teine (Samoan girl) lavalava, like one of the male visitors who stayed here. He was only vaguely amused when a group of little girls told him while he was wearing it on Savai’i, the big Island.

With most of Samoa at church on a Sunday, and pretty much everything closed for that reason, we had a few palagis we have met over the past two months over for lunch yesterday. With all of us in the same boat, many of the invitees had a link to someone else who was also here without their usual social supports, and several ring ins came along. What we ended up with was a mixture of accents, cultures and backgrounds that was fascinating and made for a great afternoon. We spent the afternoon sitting around the pool, sharing food and stories, and a Vailima or two. This included:

Mark and Jane, a Melbourne couple with children who started this week at our kid’s school, the husband working with the government superannuation provider to assist them in their investment strategies under Ausaid funding. Jane worked in the NGO sector in HR, and makes a great trifle. Their girls are the same age as our boys and gave the pool a good workout. They are here for at least a year.

Ben and Bron, a British couple here on a volunteering holiday- Ben is a GP helping at the med school, Bron volunteering at a local school. Like us, they are here until December.

Andreas, a German child psychologist doing his PhD on cultural differences in the development of how children identify themselves as separate from others. Very interesting insights into the Samoan education system, family hierarchies and the subsequent learnt behaviour of the children. Andreas heads home this week.

Slava, a Russian vet volunteering for the animal protection league, and one of the fittest men about- I saw him this morning running up the very steep cross island road with a large back pack. Slava is here until the end of the year.

Brandy, a very experienced CCU nurse from California but currently living in New Zealand, who has a wicked sense of humour and a love of the outdoors. Also a med student. Brandy heads home in October.

Alan, a podiatrist from South Australia, also a med student and a mad keen student of jujitsu. Not bad on the BBQ either. Also back to Oz in October.

Rick and Sam, another Melbourne couple here while Rick finishes his med degree, along with their nine month old daughter who is very mellow and has a beautiful name, quite apt for their current location- Oceanna. They are here for a year.

Ali, a chiropractor from the states, with his wife, Ketty and their son, Joshua. Initially from Iran, now the States, Ali is here to finish his medical degree. His South American wife is on a mission to bring Zumba to the islands. Here for at least a year, possibly more.

Karla, an american writer and photographer, here enroute to the States after spending the last few months in NZ. Amazing stories about her work with a world class wildlife photographer in the remote Canadian wilderness.

All in all, it was a fun and interesting day with such a diverse group of people, and provided a sense of building connections, even if some will be transient as people move on. I could think of worst ways to spend an afternoon!

And speaking of connections, the first of our Oz visitors arrive this week, starting a series that will continue through to late October. We are very excited.

I hope everyone is well!

Local sights

Turtle feeding at Malua Theological College.

And again. They are being fed pawpaw.

Johnny's working man bar, the local karaoke joint. It also doubles as a autoworkshop, a natural combination.

Hector, the enormous Gecko.

Teuila dancers. It is a bit hard to make out in this photo, but the big guy provoking the laughter is in the middle of the shot.

More Teuila dancers.

We went along to the Teuila Festival last night and watched a traditional songs competition. Lots of singing, dancing, clapping and leg slapping. It gets a bit reminiscent of german folk dancing which is perhaps not surprising- Samoa was a German colony in the early 1900s up until World War I when they bolted and left the administration of the Islands to New Zealand (Samoa gained independence in the 60's). It was lots of fun and the singing is beautiful, though we were often confused by the rounds of laughter that came from the crowd. They are not backwards at coming forwards and, to coin an aussie phrase, taking the piss. Once it was when a dancer's lavalava fell off during a particularly vigorous dance. It had rained twenty minutes before they commenced, so the slippery stage and the inevitable impact on the dancing was also very amusing to them. At another point it was the group of very fit looking young men dancing in skimpy lavalavas who were joined by a much bigger man and such was the discrepancy that I wondered if it hadn't been done deliberately, for comic relief. There are harder ways to spend an evening than watching young samoan men dancing topless!

We discovered the largest gecko I have ever seen in my life when we got home. I spent the night in fear it would eat my children. It must have been at least 20 centimetres long. Paul has named it Hector the Protector. Given the poor state of local TV, we spend many a night watching the geckos defend their territories while eating from the all you can eat bug buffet that is our lounge room.

I think I have failed to mention that there is a bar on our street. Johnny's working man bar. Not the kind we are likely to visit in any hurry, but it is unique in that it includes a karaoke bar. On a clear night, it is possible to hear drunken Samoans singing along to various songs like Brown eyed girl. Clearly the classics transcend cultures. I even heard Islands in the Stream last night, sung by two men. Beautiful.

Finally, the sight for this week was the turtle feeding pool at Malua theological college, about half an hours drive out of Apia. While they are captive, the staff at the college maintain the pool, feed them daily and release them to the wild when they are big enough to survive. It is a beautiful location and it is free, an oddity here- everything is usually 5 tala. We spent an hour or two sitting beside the pool with obligatory Vailimas on the weekend. Check the serenity love.

Faleoloa

Faleoloa (far- lay- o-loa)

Faleoloa is Samoan for shop. They are a common sight along any road, no matter where you are, little servery window style facilities built in front of their house and manned at all hours by family. We were surprised to see many open last night around midnight when coming home from dinner out with friends. Serving locals, they will often be the sole source of income for a family.

There seems to be a fairly standard set of products based on what we have seen:

· Vailima, the local beer, most often sold in tallies and drunk like a stubby;

· Coca cola sold the same way. It’s common to see toddlers walking around drinking directly from a 750ml bottle of coke. Sold in glass bottles you have to drink the lot as you can’t reserve any for later.

· Digicell top ups- pre paid mobile phone credits sold at even the smallest of faleoloas.

· Maggi noodles, described by one of the Doctors here as the curse of good health. They are everywhere and have no nutritional value in of themselves. Our kids say that their peers bring them to school and eat them dry direct from the packet.

· Puisipo (showing my burgeoning knowledge of Samoan here- this is canned corned beef).

· Canned mackerel.

· Sometimes also popo (coconut).

They will often also provide “BBQ”, which is a standard serve of marinated chicken cooked up on an old drum filled with coals. It smells divine.

Some faleoloas have other types of takeaway, some have clothing, some have cheap asian goods, the kind that will last a week before breaking. One has a nice gig running a regular bingo session. Interesting aside: Paul said he saw a presentation on paediatric nutrition at the Falemai’i (hospital) a few weeks back which included a shot of a child in a hospital bed and a speech balloon saying “My mama didn’t look after me as she was too busy playing bingo”. All palagis present were suitably surprised at such an out there statement for a country which places great stock in maintaining face.

Faleoloas are so common, that travelling home from the gym this morning, I counted the number I drove past on the 2km trip. 28. That’s right, 28. And this was on a backroad, in suburban Apia. In some areas, they would be located side by side, one family competing with their neighbours for local business. They range from quite well developed shops with signs, to little more than a table and an umbrella. At one of the latter I stopped and bought a huge bunch of snake beans, enough for three to four meals and a similarly large bunch of boc choy for $9 tala- less than $4.50 aussie. The lady laughed when I asked for it, raising her eyebrows, shaking her head and saying “It’s cabbage” (The unspoken comment was “stupid palagi”). She had set up her table in front of the market garden, a reassuring sign of freshness. Literally farm to plate.

Joke

Joke in today’s Samoa Observer newspaper:

Mujibar was trying to get into Australia legally through Immigration.

The Immigration officer said, “Mujibar, you have passed all the tests except one. Unless you pass it you cannot enter Australia.”

Mujibar said “I am ready”.

The officer said, “Make a sentence using the words Yellow, Pink and Green”.

Mujibar said, “ The telephone goes, ‘green, green, green’ and I pink it up and say “Yellow, this is Mujibar”.

Mujibar now works at Telstra, perhaps you have spoken to him.

Love it.

Things I have learnt about Samoa so far No.2.......

"Sports" lavalava at the Flea Market.

Harley riding along waterfront- quite possibly the only one in Samoa. Two minutes after taking this photo, he was pulled up for not wearing a helmet. Looked cool though.

Man wearing hot pink lavalava, one of many.

The view of Apia harbour from behind the government building looking back to Aggie Greys.

1. Samoan men are partial to a pink lavalava. Lavalavas are the sarong style “skirt” (for want of a better word) that are worn by both men and women, though often with different methods of tying. Paul and I have seen men wearing several pink lavalavas in the last few days, ranging from pale to hot pink.
2. My favourite lavalavas are those with backgrounds of samoan prints and an overlaid sports brand logo- often puma or adidas. Screen prints are done using old Xray films. In my mind they are "sports" lavalavas. I have images of locals putting on their sports lavalava and running shoes to go for a jog. Actually it would probably be running with thongs- yesterday we watched a group of boys playing rugby in front of Lepea village, all decked out in their full length compression tights, rugby shorts and thongs. Priceless. I will try to get some photos of the samoan village cricket competition on this week as they play wearing colourful team lavalavas and headbands.
3. · With time on my hands, I am enjoying reading the paper every day, not just quickly scanning internet stories in between meetings or while sitting at my desk throwing down my lunch. While small (the population of the various islands that make up Samoa is about 180,000, with more people of Samoan background living elsewhere than here), the stories are still very revealing of the culture here. Many stories involve some hint of corruption or misuse of authority, whether it be the Red Cross, a village Matai (or chief), an MP or the President of the Samoan Volleyball Association. The stories will run for several days, with claims and counter claims, and often a printed retraction or “now we are friends” style resolution that does not always seem authentic. It is very entertaining and interesting how often the Prime Minister himself has stepped in to play a conciliatory role. By the way, I saw him at the Gym on Thursday, only one minder and a low slung cap to keep a low profile. Bizarre.
4. · The other series of stories in the paper everyday are those reporting local crimes. One of the senior staff at the medical school is an ex-policeman and he had already quizzed me as to what I thought the most common offence would be here. I guessed alcohol related violence. Nope, stealing as a servant, and everyday the paper shows this is true. Sadly, it is most often women. Sums of money are taken to put towards some item for the family- a car, medical bills, food. Almost always first time offenders, the courts are lenient, but it shows some of the challenges that come with balancing family expectations, culture, the law and the developing economy.
5. Another story which caught my eye was the traditional ifoga (ifonga) or apology. A few weeks back in American samoa, a man who has just gotten off a charge in court, pulled a gun and fatally shot a police officer, apparently over another unrelated situation. The offenders family, including his mother and the village matai, went to the victim's house early one morning, and knelt in front of their fale, completely covered by one of their best fine mats. They would be obliged to stay that way until the family accepted the apology, which in this case happened within ten minutes. Gifts also exchanged hands as further tokens of their regret and grief. Absolutely amazing story, with the ceremony designed to allow both families to move on and process what has happened. As with all things in samoa, both families referenced their strong faith as elements of their coping and survival.
6. On a lighter note, there are clearly some western products which while you can buy them here are infrequently used by Samoan people. I bought some cockroach baits to deal with a small cockroach problem- with the open style housing here, we live with ants, wasps, milipedes etc on a daily basis. While sitting here typing this, one of the girls who cleans our unit has picked them up off the floor under a cupboard and put it on the kitchen bench, something she does every times she cleans. I don’t have the heart to tell her what they are for but will shove it under the fridge instead to avoid a repeat.
7. · My final lesson for this week- you can't judge anything here (or anywhere for that matter) against the norms of another culture. Based on the last few weeks experiences: The man with the dirty lavalava and no shoes runs a fire wood business that grosses $300,000 a year (an absolute fortune here). The subservient woman fanning you while you are eating at her father’s house is a post graduate qualified accountant and senior auditor for a government department, her father both expecting her to play this role while proudly lauding and displaying her academic achievements on the walls of his fale. The boy with the gang hair and tattoos is a devoted lover of Jesus Christ, proudly proclaimed on his T-shirt and Hat. The group of men drinking beer and sitting on the corner under a tree are singing hymns. And they will all smile and wave hello.

This week in Samoa is the Teuila Festival (Tee- weela, the samoan name for the ginger flower) which is the major cultural festival of the year. Fire dancing competitions, cultural singing, umu demonstration (cooking on coals- I love the samoan word for the "device" they use to cook in- umu kuka), wood carving, markets and last night, a Jazz night are all on the agenda. I hope to post some great photos over the coming week.

Hope everyone is well.