Palagi Post

Tsunami in American Samoa

2009-09-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have been back on the mainland for months so no posts. However, the tsunami that just hit is devastating. All of our friends are safe and accounted for, thank goodness. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those suffering from this awful experience.

Here's an account by my friends the Browns:

http://tropicalbrowns.blogspot.com/2009/09/tsunami-in-american-samoa.html

Photos from a friend on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/30/samoa.earthquake/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto

Video footage of the water entering Pago Harbor and Interview with one of the local radio djs.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5352464n&tag=api

User video on The Weather Channel

http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?from=email&bcpid=823425597&bclid=877032950&bctid=42801725001

MSNBC is constantly updating the story on their website:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33075304

Tofa Markus!

2009-03-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

Markus (and Einstein) have departed the rock. And you are hearing about this way after the fact, because I wasn't interested in advertising on the internet that I was without dog or husband.

There are two ways to check in at Hawaiian on flight days. Well that is if you don't want to stand in line for three hours. There is "early"-come at 5ish and stand in line until the desk opens at 6, be done hopefully by 7. Go out to dinner with friends and come back at 10pm. There is "late" check in-come at 9 pm and really, really hope you can be through the line by the time the desk closes at 10pm. Late check in seems to be working well these days. However, since we had to drop Einstein off at the cargo at 9pm, we checked in "early."

Chase was in line too. Notice all the bags holding places. This is the line before the desk is even open! Markus is on the phone to the cargo guys who are supposed to be there meeting us with Einstein. We can see them going in and out of the cargo building, apparently ignoring the phone.

We had a bunch of "lasts"
Markus' last dive with Paul & Melanie

Our last Mt.Alava walk (Markus did this every day with Einstein, sometimes even twice!)

Last dinner at Tisas with the Browns (we are a few coladas into the night)

Last amazing Candy Man Pina Coladas

Special island banana splits made by Emma for Markus

Tired Markus waiting for the plane.

Some lovely things our friends said about Markus for his departure:

Things we'll miss about Markus :

Einstein

Someone to Pitch for us in Sloshball Games

Being the only person on the island qualified to fix our most complicated computer problems

A Dive Partner

Your steady, genial demeanor

Einstein

We'll miss you big guy, and your little dog too!
Going all in on the first hand, and losing.
Emailing me seemingly every twenty minutes asking where his payment is and why ASG is so fucked up.
Being introduced to the always-humble Markus' alter ego on Ofu... Reno Markus. Thanks for the laughs during a great weekend!

Seeing him faithfully walking Einstein at Utulei Beach nearly every day

easy going, friendly personality His infinite patience with people who he is trying to help...

Dear Einstein,

I, and the Association as a whole, will miss you. Your sloshball abilities, relaxed attitude, and political insights will not be easy to replace. I hope you have safe travels back to Portland and don't get too cold on the flight. I only wish you could have spent more time with and helped Pu as he has some serious psychological issues to work through - like realizing that despite being fixed he's still male and shouldn't be so motherly to the cat or chirp like a startled 3rd grade girl.

Please keep in touch and despite the fact you lack opposable thumbs or fingers I hope you write often.

P.S. Give your owner Marcus my best as well. He will sorely be missed as he was one of the more upbeat and happy individuals on the island, probably because he gets to hang out with you. Happy travels to him as well. (No mention of wife here, hmmmm.....)

Now me and jeremy will need to find someone else to weigh as much as.

We'll also miss your laid-back style, and your dog... what's that Snowy? yeah, I mentioned his dog.

Tofa Markus!

Sliding Rock with the Girls

2009-03-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

One beautiful Sunday afternoon just a few short weeks ago (hard to believe as I sit in multiple layers of fleece, freezing in unusually chilly weather in Portland) a group of us girls headed out to Sliding Rock for cocktails and soaking in the pools. It was the loveliest time I've ever had there. Beautiful skies, cool blue water and fabulous company. And a great idea for a Girls Spa Day was hatched here....

Palagi Beach

2009-02-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

There is a magical place on the island that is only arrived at after a long drive and a long hike. Since only palagi's are willing to do this for sand and surf it is rightly called Palagi Beach. Markus had never been so we went on his last weekend on the Island.

Einstein sunbathing.

Find the treacherous trail to the left of this driveway-it's where the little palm tree is there. Follow the trail and the beach all the way to an amazing beach with great views and a small area that's good for soaking (snorkeling is not really an option here).

Get LOST Already Party

2009-02-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

Barbara who's been here for three years left on Sunday for adventures unknown. Read her blog about her transition off-island. Since I leave this upcoming Sunday we had a shared goodbye party.

Again, Matt opened up his house to the festivities including filling up the pool!! Good thing he had an umbrella or he and Kayla could have gotten wet!

The theme was LOST and a few brave souls dressed up and there was lots of Dharma Initiative brand food. (Please ignore the fact I spelled Initiative wrong on all the labels!) Note the cool "The Rock" station logo that Paul Brown made for me.

And, of course, Fish Biscuits from the Polar Bear cage episode. They tasted horrible, just like you would imagine the ones sitting in the cage all those years would have. I need to find a new gingerbread recipe.

I made a special Crash Landing Cake (that's supposed to be Tutuilla there).

Kim and Mike as Kate and Locke

Lisa as Pregnant Claire admiring the LOST t-shirts

Ned sporting the back of the LOST tshirt.

Kelly sporting the front.

Getting LOST

2009-02-08T13:06:00.001-08:00

I've been struggling with some angst this past month about leaving the island. I know, I know. "What about the count down? What about the complaints?" I think this happens to a lot of us who come here hoping for paradise, looking for change, needing some sun. We go through culture shock, we find things we like/love about the place, we adjust, and then we get antsy, thinking it's perhaps time for something different.

But what are we looking for? Often what was going on back "home" wasn't so great that's why we are here in the first place. So what are we running back to? Grocery stores and shopping? We all know, living in a consumer culture, that there will never be "enough". As soon as you have what you've been waiting to consume for two long years then you'll be looking for something better or different. Newer. Better. Bigger.

We know that inefficiency and corruption is rampant here. Efficiency is nice and so is customer service. But remember there are long waits in the states and stupid people everywhere. Is sitting in rush hour traffic for 1 to 2 hours better than having a blank stare when you need something done? I think I'd rather deal with the stare.

We don't make much compared to salaries back home, but you won't spend even a fraction of what you do in the states. You aren't bombarded with crap that you think you need. Your clothes are secondary, your car acceptable if you gets you from point A to point B, your house fantastic if it's not infested with termites or mold. We've learned to live within our means, unlike many unfortunate souls back home. And hey! We have a job.

Ok, so job satisfaction can be the "biggie" here. People get "in trouble" by superiors for "just doing their job" because it might in some unknown/unforeseen way be upsetting to the Samoan culture. Change is nearly impossible and when it does happen it's at a snail's pace. Your boss can be completely ignorant and never at work. You have to learn to pat yourself on your back and be happy if you are making small changes in people's everyday lives. This is not a big picture place. Living for today is really the motto. Future orientation is slow in developing here.

Yeah, the internet sucks. But really, should you be spending so much time on the internet? Yeah, the cable is delayed by two weeks and the commercials irrelevant (christmas sales after christmas). Will the world fall apart if you watch LOST two weeks late or when it comes out on DVD?

The schools are awful I must admit. If I had kids this would be one of the greatest challenges. When teachers drop curriculum because the "students won't read the book" (speaking of High School kids) instead of, oh, I don't know....flunking them, then there is a real problem here.

Health care is an issue, esp if you want any specialty services. However, there are more and more US trained physicians and health care providers. At $10 a visit, $10 a RX and many services offered free through Fed Grants, you can appreciate what we DO have. AND many, many, far too many, people in the states are without any type of health insurance. That $10 doctor's visit, is $150-200 out of pocket. That RX? Try $50-100+

I think I've learned a lot about slowing down that I NEVER would have been able to learn back home. It's impossible. I've also learned a lot about what I don't want back in my life when we get back. I wish we were going on to some new adventure, but there are a few practical reasons why we need to go back, at least for the time being.

Most people who leave Samoa, remember it longingly afterwards. Some say it was like a dream. They won't come back because we all leave for some very good reasons (because some people do stay for very long periods verging on "forever"-of course, we call these people "Tropo" ;), As the time nears to leave I think it's impossible to wonder if this is the right move and what are you gaining/loosing. I had very little hesitation on leaving and much more on returning.

I'm hoping this isn't like some episode of LOST where we spend two years connecting with people, trying to survive and figuring out life, the universe, and everything; all while desperately trying to escape at the same time. Then when we finally are "free" and back in the "real world" we are not quite sure what the big rush was to leave. And may just have to return to save our friends we left behind on the island. ;)

Yet another farewell BBQ

2009-02-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

A tradition on-island is to see your friends off at the airport when they are making their final departure. The flight leaves late and it's always a school night, Sunday and Thursday (thanks Hawaiian!), so this takes commitment and love (esp from us as we live on the opposite side of the island). I have done this a few times but I'm rather choosy with my airport goodbyes.

Aaron and Naomi who fell from the sky around the same time I did were leaving this past Thursday and I really wanted to see them off at the airport. Matt opened his house for a BBQ with the plan to "do the airport" afterward. Unfortunately, there was something wrong with the plane (I've yet to find out what) and the flight was delayed until the next morning. Having to work, there was no way to make it all the way out there the next morning. I was convinced that this was some crazy plot development out of LOST where Naomi and Aaron wouldn't be able to make it off the island. And eventually, by extension neither would we. Which leads me to my next blog entry....Getting Lost. (Naomi and Aaron and there kitty did make it off the island afterall).

Aaron decided he wanted to do politician handshake series with everyone.

Palagi Olympics 2009-We are the champions!

2009-02-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

This month will see a lot of palagi losses. As you know, Markus and I are heading back to Portland, Aaron (of the AG's office) and Naomi (librarian extraordinaire) and Barbara (EPA) will all be gone by the end of this month.

We had some farewell festivities to commemorate. Lisa and Nate organized a great Palagi Olympics/Sloshball game and lots of people showed up for the fun. Markus and I were sloshball captains and, of course, my team won. Which is good because I almost never keep score on these games and have to depend on the more competitive on the league to know if we are up or down. I believe in delegation. Thanks Doug and Amity. I was on Naomi's team for Palagi Olympics and we came out the overall winners on that one, as well. It's nice to go out on top! Afterward we ate well at Samoan Steve's house.
Naomi up to bat (no Naomi that's not how you play sloshball!)

Steve after astronaut game.

Gwen & I go down on the three legged race.

Markus up to bat.

Team Matt & Team Naomi

Erick on his way to victory!

Lisa going for the gold.

Einstein thinking Aaron's hit was for him.

Lalomanu Beach

2009-01-25T18:51:00.000-08:00

This island off shore from Lanomanu was an old Leper colony.

One of the best known beaches in Western Samoa is Lalomanu. It is also one of the most densely built up beaches with cheap beach fale accomodations. If you want a beach front accomodation for a mere forty tala and don't mind sleeping on woven mats and fighting off mosquitos-this is the place for you!

Luckily, our resort Seabreeze was just a short drive down the road. I think the crowded accomodations is just a breeding ground for dengue. Not that I can prove this but it just stands to reason. Plus I enjoy sleeping off the floor. But I'm old what can I say.

The beach and reef here offers some of the best snorkeling and swimming around. It does come with Samoa's own form of adventure with ava's (rip tides) and strong currents, but with fins on, strong swimming skills and knowing where the avas are you can have a great time.

I actually saw my first turtle in Samoa there. Yes I'm leaving after two years and this is my first turtle. I have been extremely unlucky in this department-other people see turtles all the time. It was a nice parting gift.

Here are some lovely photos from snorkeling:

Western Samoa-One More Time (this is it I promise)

2009-01-25T17:44:00.000-08:00

If you are keeping up on my blogs you might recall my last trip to Western Samoa (which was literally supposed to be my LAST trip). Weeeellll....have I mentioned how much I love Western Samoa and the fact that I didn't get any market shopping done last time and that, combined, with a three day weekend (thanks Dr. King!), and Markus being back on island, all added up in my mind to another trip to Western.

I got this awesome shot of Apia from the plane when we were leaving. Yup that's it. The grand metropolis of Apia. That's exactly what it feels like for us, too.

Aerial shot of part of the hillside in Upolu.

We stayed again at Manumea in Apia. I highly recommend this place. We got to watch some really bad tv to remind us not to miss TV. The highlight of which is the following expert from what appeared to be a lip sink music video.

We had our usual amazing pizza at Giordanos pizza, where Markus had to sit with his back to this painting as it creeps him out.

The next two nights we stayed at Seabreeze. I've blogged about this place before, but I can't say enough good things about this place. The food was great again in their wonderful cliff hugging restaurant.

The little fales have giant hammocks in them for lazing, as below.

Driving on Upolu is one of my favorite things in the world. The roads are awesome (esp compaired to American Samoa), the views are incredible, there are no cops (I'll leave this to your imagination what this implies), and there are NO cars on the road, esp on Sundays. American Samoa is literally overrun with cars and the citizens are not better off for it.

Here are a few shots from the roadside:

Awesome fale with Samoan tatau designs.

Horses grazing under palm trees.

A few things: L&D

2009-01-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

A Few Things I'm Going to Miss (some of you will have no idea what I'm referring to herein-that's ok)

Zero Epidural Rate
Women who can push out a baby in one or two pushes and who think a long push is over 15 minutes.
Women who want to walk and move around in labor and are surrounded by female family members that think birth is natural and not scary.
Fast labors
Women who want to go home in early labor
Women who labor at home until things are really cooking.
The hard working and under appreciated nurses (somethings are the same no matter WHERE you are)
An understanding of what a midwife is WITHOUT having to explain it.
A preference for midwives as birth attendent

A Few Things I'm Not Going to Miss:

Putting my foot into my shoe in the middle of night to feel a cockroach (a large one) squirming around in there. (Insert high pitched scream and shoe flying across the room).
Sleeping in the linen closet on a gurney.
Routine episiotomies (by OTHER practitioners)
Latex gloves that are moldy and disintegrate as soon as I put them on.
Lack of systematic health care
Going to the "delivery room"
Lack of adherence to Universal Precautions (gross and scary)
Chromic suture as the only suture
The lack of a neonatal crash team (hmmm I think there is a name for this but I've been without one for so long...it's like some sweet memory) Good thing bad babies are so few and far between.
Lack of urgency when a crash csection is called.
20 minute Decision to Incision Protocol
Women who refuse induction when they are REALLY, REALLY, REALLY overdue.
Babies going straight to the nursery because there is not enough staff to monitor babies during transition.
Lack of position changes for delivery.
No IUPCs

Bright Lights, Big City

2009-01-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

My time here in American Samoa is rolling to a close. I have two more months left on island. Though there are many great things about being here, I've decided not to renew my contract.
I had hoped we would be able to move to Hawaii, but Markus found a good job at his alma matter, Portland State University, writing programs for researchers. So we will be returning to our old 'hood. It will be great to be close to family and friends in old Puddletown. Let's just hope I can adapt to the rain and cold.

Samoan Xmas Redux

2008-12-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been here long enough for the holidays to repeat themselves.
Though Markus was off-island there was plenty of activities to keep me busy.

The now traditional Christmas Eve Gift Exchange at Naomi and Aaron's. I tried hard to get me the ukulele or the American Samoa flag (a few of this years "hot" items). Sadly, I came away empty handed after a cut throat round of ro0-sham-bo. As a wonderful surprise Dr. Dave came through for me and gave me my very own ukulele!

A few highlights:

Aaron, sporting his awesome Xmas shirt getting just what he asked for:

The much sought after ukulele

Einstein getting into the fun with Ben:
Kelly gets a shoot a Parrot game:

Matt super stoked on his ping pong equipment.

Lisa and the much sought after American Samoa flag.

Maria super excited by her awesome tie.
Naomi gets a calus cutter from Ned. Awesome.Ned gets this hat as Karmic payback.

View from Naomi and Aaron's bungalow:View from Brian and Nadia's house on Christmas day, where we had a nice feast.
And every Xmas post should end with a cute baby picture (Ona ready for walk):

McCastle

2008-11-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

This week ushered in another blow to Samoan health and culture.

ANOTHER McDonald's franchise was opened in American Samoa.

Here are some statistics:

Population: @ 65,000

Health: WHO (2004)
75% Obesity Rate
47.3% Diabetic rate in 25-64 yr olds

Fastfood Establishments: 6
McDonalds (2)
Carl's Jr.
Pizza Hut
KFC
Checkers

Amount of money McDonalds Corporation donates to the health care system of American Samoa: $0

So what does a population like the above need? Well.....ANOTHER fastfood establishment, of course!!!!

Can you all put your hands together for the McCastle which celebrated its Grand Opening last Friday?

Because one story is just not big enough in American Samoa!

Bigger is ALWAYS better. And a McCafe!

Allegiance to what?

The line for obesity, clogged arteries and diabetes.

And then there's the issue of traffic on our one road island...
This guy was directing traffic.
I wasn't sure if he volunteered for the job or was hired by McDonalds.

Lunch crew stuck in traffic.
I'm assuming they think it's AWESOME!

And as an attempt at undercover reporting ....ok it's really the drive through of shame.
Damn McDonalds for being soooo convenient on a Friday when you are tired and late to attend the island's finest in live entertainment.
And those fries are soooooo good.

To experience this yourself:

Halloween

2008-11-25T17:38:00.000-08:00

Julia put on the best Pirate Party ever for Halloween!
Here are a few highlights!

Julia in her HOMEMADE costume-no kidding from SCRATCH.
And she did one for her husband and two sons as well. Super duper.

Samoan Pirate a la Johnny Depp

Markus' Wait Wait co opted Halloween idea with his own Pedro flair.

Lisa in her "concept" costume Doug's Dirty Apartment.
For more on concept costumes (Markus' is one too) check out What White People Like have to say about it.

Barbara (as Peter Pan) with the coolest guest, "Bat Boy", an adolescent bat.

The Clerks in their random Tropic PJs that were adamantly NOT costumes.

They had this done for real.

Carol walking like an Egyptian.

Naomi and her friend?

Fred, Pebbles and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Chris who is always a pirate but came as a punk rocker and still looked like a pirate, with bat boy on his head.Aaron as himself! I mean the weight liftin' dude.

Me and Helen Elizabeth at her first party.
She's clearly a party animal!
She was just born the weekend before, delivered by yours truly.

My Few of My Favorite Things...

2008-11-17T12:43:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to start a "favorite things" about Samoa post. As I get closer to leaving more things are endearing me to Samoa. Here are a few from today. There are sure to be more in the future.

Ad in Samoa News Classifieds:

GINSENG TREE (OR CUTTING) [14 Nov]

(Panax). Will pay $30 & $10 to who finds person to sell me tree. Send postcard/e-mail to: billreader3@yahoo.com, PO Box 7422, PagoPago, AS 96799.

And this is how my Bank tries to find me:
I usually just tell people, up the road across from the giant Banyon tree, past the Korea house, but apparently both my general vicinity and PO Box seems to be appropriate for financial correspondence by my bank. You never appreciated street addresses more than when you are trying to give directions without them.

O Beautiful Day!

2008-11-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

Polling Fale in Pago-This not an official government building.

Close Up Fale Polling Place (are those ballot boxes marked?)

Election Day in American Samoa was surreal. There has been a huge gubernatorial race, this person is basically the president here.

I think somebody called these Faafetai (thank you) tents-Vote and get a plate lunch that's been sitting around since yesterday! A little food poisoning with your democracy? Yes, thank you!

The governor has a lot of power over the people in charge of the different agencies on the island so even if one might take issue with the incumbent, job security might be your motivation on election day.

Interesting places to put up campaign propaganda.

There is a law on the books that legally Samoan's get two hours off in the day to vote. This didn't effect my work day too much but I'm curious how other departments faired.

Also there is no alcohol sold on election day until after the polls close at 6pm. By 6:30 pm we had heard on the raido that the first brawl had broken out at a polling place. That's some fast drinkin!

For some unknown reason the signs require lava-lavas.
Perhaps the exposed legs of the signs are considered unseemly.

Many villages here vote as a whole-though ballots are cast individually. Today, American Samoa did not awake to a new governor or a reelected governor. No candidates acheived the 50% plus one,popular vote. So a run off between the top contendors will take place Nov 18. This gives me high hopes that the monday before Veteran's day will be declared a holiday by da governor...

This house (I suspect they were paid by the candidates to fund their home renovations) supported ALL the gubernatorial candidates.

I thought this was an interesting quote from Samoa News, "The governor told supporters and committee members not to disrespect voters they suspect were supposed to vote for them but didn't. He said to always show a happy face and respect"

Yesterday was an anxious day for me. I had strong hope that Obama was our man, but having been burned four years ago-going to bed thinking the Democrats had won and awaking to a stolen election in the morning...I was not counting my chickens.

Obama is President!

We watched the final results coming through at the yacht club (we don't have cable and the only real-time results were on CNN). At 5pm the results were in! And we welcomed in a new era in America-while in American Samoa! Obama is our new President and there is new hope for our country. I think I'm actually feeling patriotic today! What a fabulous birthday present.

MangOOONOOOO!

2008-10-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

For the last week and a half I have been in a weakened condition.

One of my life long nemesis has been poison oak. Growing up in poison oak free Siskiyou County I didn't encounter this dire enemy until I went to college in Santa Cruz.

(So harmless looking...yet so deadly...ok, not deadly, but I want to be dead (ly))

I had no idea what had happened to me the first time I got the stuff-it vanquished me immediately . I continued to loose the fight with this foe through out my four years in the poison oak friendly Santa Cruz environment. The week before finals my last year of college I swear I got it from dust on the trail in Big Sur, evil and wily that poison oak.

(Scientific explanation of why I want to rip my flesh off.)

I stormed into the Student Health Center demanding, yes, DEMANDING, prednisone. The poor medical Resident had no recourse. He fled the exam room for his preceptor (in those days to get steroids you had to twist people's arms) but he returned, first waving a white presription paper into the room as a sign of surrender before daring to enter the room. I won that round with poison oak and had the added benefit of not needing much sleep and having a lot of extra energy for finals week. Though I do remember eating my body weight that week as well. Steroids, they'll do that to you.

(Tecnu-my old friend)

I would continue to encounter ol' P.O. occasionally for years until moving here. Aaaha! At long, long last a poison oak free environment! A place of lush, safe folliage, and tropical fruit.

(Good mango)

It is mango season and lucky us our friends have a mango tree. Last Monday I decided I'd indulge myself and picked a bag full of mangoes. As I pulled them off the tree, sweet smelling mango sap oozed from the stem. MMMMMM, I inhaled deeply. Lovely mangoes. I've eaten mangoes and mango flavored everything my whole life.

(Bad mango)

I was not prepared for what was to come. Two days later my face was red, two days after that my face and eyes were nearly swollen shut. And then my arms and legs-blistering and redness. WHAT was happening? This looks like poison oak! How can this be! A little internet research and low and behold what did I discover? Mango sap and peel contain the exact same chemical as poison oak. If you react to the sap that doesn't necessarily mean you have a food allergy to mango, which is very good news, but I'm going to wait until I'm stateside to have an allergy test before I risk it. Apparently mango is very rarely a primary sensitizer, but if you've had a reaction to poison oak, ivy or sumac beware the mango tree! For good reading while recovering from your a case of mango contact dermatitis, check out this page. Misery loves company (and case studies).

White Sunday (and Monday)

2008-10-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

(Markus and our fancy drinks at Aggie Greys)

We headed to Western as an early birthday present (for myself) over the three day Columbus Day weekend. This was to be our last trip to Western and I had luxury, good food and some heavy duty shopping on my mind. Western Samoa had something different in mind. White Sunday (aka Children's Day) to be precise. This is actually a nice holiday where children are all dressed up in white and are lavished with attention and sweets. They perform plays and dance and song recitals for their proud parents. In a culture that really values the elder (and the newborn) time off from scolding is really a pleasure for these kiddos.

It's a well known fact that everything in Western Samoa shuts down on a Sunday. I realized that on White Sunday this would be even more of the case. However, I did not count on the Western Samoan's love of a day off, err I mean of their children!

(Coke is only available in Giant Glass Bottles in the Bush Stores)

Hey, don't get me wrong, I too enjoy a good three day weekend (thus this very trip). But what's this about closing up shop? Haven't they caught on to the fact that a three day weekend is a retailer's best friend?!? They could easily pull the consumer in with White Sunday Specials-20% of all Lava Lavas, White Sunday Dresses slashed to 75% off! Pisupo 3 for a $1!

(No one wanted by pretty tala)

And don't people want to go out to dinner and spend $$$$ for the treat? What's the point of staying home and cooking up a feast with family and friends when you can pay someone a lot of tala to grudingly serve you when they'd rather have the day off themselves?

Oh no, these folks want to hang out with their families on a three day weekend. Geesh! How are they ever going to become dissatisfied consumers? Oh well, what are you going to do?

So Monday was a day off despite my argument that White Sunday should be celebrated on SUNDAY! Not Sunday AND Monday! Or really they needed to change the name.

So I only got a little shopping done on Saturday. We did have a fabulous meal at Bistro Tatau, which I highly recommend. Gourmet meal made with local ingredients-wow what a concept. Are you paying attention American Samoa? You don't need to be ruled by fast food chains! The waiters were really attentive and polite and wore no shoes though they were dressed to the 9s. The inside of the restaurant is very nice though the location (across from the market) isn't spectacular.

We saw a movie for about $2 (Tropic Thunder-yawn) but it was a night "out on the town" and no one was talking through the movie so this was a huge improvement over the theater in American Samoa.

(Mantareva)

We went to a nice beach on Sunday with decent snorkeling in Mantareva (it can be a challenge to find beaches that are open on Sunday) and stopped for drinks at Coconuts and GASP, saw my first kiteboarder in Western Samoa.

(Coconuts)

I knew it was possible to kiteboard in Western, but I hadn't seen anyone in all the times I'd been there. It looked like heaven. He was the only one on the water and the water and wind looked perfect. I was insanely jealous. Someday ... someday...

We hiked the hill, Vailima, where Robert Louis Stevenson is buried (though not to the top, I was too lazy), entering through the Vailima Botanical Gardens.

We stayed at a nice hotel, Manumea Resort in Apia, which has the added benefit of being nearly directly across from The Curry House (too bad it was closed!). I wanted to be in town to be close to the market and the restaurants-though this ended up not really being an issue. But I really enjoyed this place. The rooms are beautiful.

The rooms are in bunaglows (two suites per bungalow) there are private outdoor showers with rockery. This is a new place and they are still working out the kinks so we changed rooms twice (first room the fan didn't work, the second room the curtain rods broke with a strong gust of wind).
This did earn us some free drinks at the hotel's restaurant. Their complimentary breakfast was really good and they offer an American Samoa resident price discount.

It was a nice trip despite being deprived of my final Samoan shopping spree and Indian curry. I was hoping the planes would be in need of maintenance and we'd not make it back so I could shop on Tuesday. But in a rare instance of efficiency the planes left on time and without incident. Foiled!

Doggy Paddle/Rooster Fight

2008-09-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

A few videos from Markus:

How to NOT walk on the coral reef. Go doggio!

This next one illustrates how inundated we are with chickens. People back home always ask when I am on the phone with them and they hear the cockadoodle-do in the background, "Is that a chicken I hear?" Yes, yes it is. And more than one. I think this video also might illustrate that my husband has too much time on his hands.

Un-bottled

2008-09-23T22:29:00.000-07:00

I am going to vent my bottled up bottle frustration. We have a problem here in American Samoa (and worldwide of course). Though the local tap water is completely safe, and bottled water expensive, almost everyone drinks bottled water (Fiji water being the water of choice) or bottled Gatorade (don't get me started on that one-everyone thinks it's "healthy" (see Idiocracy for reference). There is (virtually) no recycling on island so these all go in the trash (if we are lucky) or in the streams, oceans or roadside vegetation if we and the planet are not so lucky.

Here is the beach with some great documentation as to this fact:

So if you don't like what you see here, how about you pledge to Break the Bottled Water Habit with New American Dream. It's easy and free and not a request for $ (in fact there are prizes involved so sign up on my page please!)

Whack Out

2008-09-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, this comic strip is too small and hard to read, but if you click on it, it will enlarge. I couldn't figure out how to make it bigger. That's how I've been feeling a lot lately. Yes, yes , poor me. My life is soooo hard living . . . on a beautiful tropical island with a great set of friends, a great husband and a laid back job.

But here's something I've discovered about myself lately . . . I like change. On the rotation of about 1 1/2 to 2 years something needs to happen! With my amazing wedding in the past and all the planning and activities related to it, I've been struggling to keep sane. I've started a Dinner Club which, so far, has meet with great success. And we have a book club that is resurrecting itself. And there's always a TON of parties/happenings. But I think I just need a change of scenery. I've started counting down the days left on-island (see countdown counter on the right) and we are talking the big "where are we going to move" conversation. We are leaning hard towards Hawaii, but it's all on Markus on this one, so well wishes are welcome for him landing some great job that we can actually survive on in Hawaii.

In the mean time here are a few photos of the many, many parties we have had lately:

First Dinner Club at my house (Thai food). Twenty guests. Waaaay too many, but it was great fun.

Oscar's first (documented) partaking of boxed wine (courtesy Aaron)-or so he says . . .

The best part of Dinner Club-clean up crew! Maybe I had a little too much boxed wine, this photo is a little crooked.Oscar was the second Dinner Club host.

Oscar is Peruvian and hosted a FABULOUS dinner with china, actual wine glasses to drink our wine out of and linen! Of course he's lived here for years so he can accumulate such things. He made us Peruvian dishes.

He also has a great house with an actual dining room!

Our friend Sam had a going away party where we were supposed to dress like Sam, either in a very tight t-shirt with camo khaki shorts or pjs (as he is known as Sleepy Sam taking random naps at any given moment).
Naomi took it the extra mile with her Sam Stubble-apparently he is a scratchy cheek kisser. Matt just looks like Sam that's all there is to it.
Sam is also known for being a little hairy-thus Einstein, dressed up as hairy Sam. This is one for the books because Markus hates dressing up the dog and he did this.

And then there was Oscar's 70's/Toga party. The Italian dressed as a Greek in the kitchen:

Naomi, getting down. What's missing from this picture are her knee high crew socks and Converse sneakers.

The hippies and their hippy baby show up:

There is so much wrong with this picture I don't know where to start:

Jim in his crazy cop helmet and glasses. Very CHIPS.

And then there is Gnocchi night. Apparently this is a tradition in Argentina to have gnocchi on the 29th of the month. Barbara is the hostess with mostest and serves a slew off folks on this night (even though she is indeed not Argentinian, but Italian). This was my first Gnocchi night. We had fresh pasta lasagne, gnocchi, and polenta. All homemade!

Naomi made most of these darlings:

Michael is enjoying some Fresno State vino (only the best at our parties) contributed by SamoanSteve and Barbara bemoans her choice of seasonings at Michael's house (Pizza Hut red pepper flakes).

I made a lot of the pasta that was in this puppy:

Yes, my life is sooo hard with all these great times. Yet still there are times when I feel like I'm going to Whack Out.

Things Are Not Right in Paradise

2008-09-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't discussed too much the downsides of American Samoa. Sometimes, it's just too painful for such a beautiful place with great people to harbor such blatant corruption and systemic problems. Today, however, has pushed me to the edge. I am so furious I am at a loss for words so I'll just let it speak for itself:

http://samoanews.com/thursday.09042008/story16.html
http://samoanews.com/friday.09052008/story6.html
http://samoanews.com/saturday.09202008/story15.html
http://samoanews.com/tuesday.09302008/story12.html
Without a healthy justice system there can not be a healthy culture.

Wedding: The Other Stuff

2008-09-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Cutting the cake!

Feeding each other.

Mmmm...caaaake.

Can you tell we are all faking this shot? Really the only person that had to sign this was Jim as the officiant (you can read about that here), they made us sign at the clerks office. Joe's doing a good job as the witness though.

Wedding Reception: Guests

2008-09-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

I loved having our dinner outside with a view of the mountain.
I think everyone really enjoyed it, too

Michael and Kelly try to think of something witty for the guest book.

Reed and her Pops.

The kids had goodie bags to keep them occupied.

Scarlett seemed to think the party was Number One!

Jessica and David got engaged the day of the wedding, though we didn't find out about it until later. Aaaah!

These guys look like they are really enjoying themselves and their Newcastle.

Wedding: Put on Your Boogie Shoes

2008-09-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

I really had fun dancing. We used our laptop and a $75 sound system. We had playlists for everything. Markus got his jazz for cocktail hour and dinner and I got some dancin' music for the evening.

Our first dance was Madeleine Peyroux-Dance Me to the End of Love

Our guests actually came out and danced with us!

Reed wanted to dance with Markus and Pearl was swinging with her Pops.
I made my sisters dance with me to Sister Sledge's We Are Family

Mia, Chris & Brian's baby, was a party animal and danced the entire party.

Emily had a daddy dance, too.
Leanne and Greg had a good time.

Jodi and Nick got down!

Even my nephew danced with me!

Markus was a good sport and danced with me a lot. Though there was some complaining because he was so sore from the Fourth of July race a few days earlier.

Wedding Reception: Speech! Speech!

2008-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

I was truly surprised at how fun the toasting was. I always think of this part as a painful process of a wedding but I guess when it's me being toasted I must not mind too much!

Markus' parents give us a speech!

Joe thinks Markus' love for me has something to do with his hairstyling!

Hope out's my gift of pie as subversive flirting!

Jim refuses to take credit for our meeting!

Reed's speech! This was the most surprising event of the wedding. Reed spontaneously decided to toast us and tell us that our marriage "made her heart happy." I hope someone got this on video. It's going to be one of my favorite lifelong memories.I toast my husband and tell about our five lake Fourth of July weekend.

Another unforgettable event was the re-vamp of Feist's Mushaboom by Leanne and Hope for the Reception modified for the island Lifestyle. Lyrics follow. Toasting their fabulous performance!

Unpacking the gear and setting up
Living with roosters and coconuts oh
She's catching babies at LBJ
And he's in the water all damn day, oh

But in the meantime Valima's here,
Island living, and no good beer.
Only two years until the day
Iceberg won't cost all our pay.

Old dirt road,
Smells like mold
Walking with Einstein as we grow
o-o-o-o-old

They got a plan to stick it out
And make a home from a concrete house oh
They'll collect the moments one by one
Guess thet's how the future's done oh

How many acres, how much light
Tucked in the jungle and out of sight
Talk to the locals and tip my cap
On a little rock barely on the map

Old dirt road
Pisoupo
Wathing the palm trees as we grow
o-o-o-o-old

Cheers!!!!

Wedding Reception: Details

2008-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Instead of the traditional wedding cake we went with cupcakes. I found my baker via my florist. They happened to be from Weed and had been students of my Dad's when he taught biology. I never met my baker. All our communication was via email! The cake was fantastic. Hope made gluten free cupcakes for the GF people and the baker frosted them. Everyone was happy!

Besides the Samoa fans we had little plantable wildflower dragonflys that were custom made from a crafts person on Etsy. I love Etsy. I got all my jewelry, Joe's cufflinks, Dragonfly brooches for the women instead of corsages and these guys from artists off that website.

Centerpieces by yours truly and the Dollar Store, assembled by my wedding coordinator. Unfortunately, the candles wouldn't stay lit because of the wind, they were still cool in my book.

Dinner was catered by the resort. I would have loved to have a restaurant cater but it wasn't an option. I think the resort did ok. I don't remember too much so I suppose what I was able to scarf down was ok.

Joe's cufflinks were from Etsy. Joe's a computer geek-they were crafted from old circuit board!

Markus' dive flag cufflinks. I think this was his absolute favorite detail of the wedding.

We had New Castle beer and for us beer starved island folk it was heaven! It was more economical to get a keg for the wedding, though there was no way to drink it all by the evening. The bartender poured out as much as she could at the end of the evening for the after party.

Wedding: Reception Posie Photos

2008-09-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

The reception was outside at the Mount Shasta Resort. The weather was perfect. There was a bit of wind but it kept the smoke from the forest fires out of the valley and the mountain visible so it was fine by me. My fancy hair mostly stayed in place. It was a great place to have kids present because they could run around and play and be happy.

We had more posed portraits at the resort with family and guests.

The flower girls! Finally a smile from Pearl. That's my dress behind them.

Me with Grand Niece Scarlett.

The wedding party with mountain in the background.

We had a lot of kids at the wedding and they were all girls!

Front Row: Mia Laurent, Pearl McNames, Emily Laurent, Lucy Holscher

Back Row: Chloe and Juniper Darrow and Reed McNames
In Arms: Scarlett Meier

Da Boys! They did this all spontaneously!
Back Row: Michael, Duane , Eugen, John , Markus, Greg, Danny,Frank, Brian
Front Row: Moudy, Joe, Jim, Nick, Joe, Ben, David, Brian

Me and the Newphews

Back Row: Cathy, Greer, Hope, Lis
Front: Kelly, Me, Chris, Leanne, Jessica and Erin
I don't know where all the lady counterparts are to the guys. There should be a lot more girls in this picture, but I had turned over the organization to the photographer.

Wedding: Posie Pics

2008-09-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Both families.

Us with Markus' parents.

Jim, our officiant (Jim, Hope and I went to High School together and he was Markus' teacher in the Master's program), Markus and Bestman, Joe.

The girls! The Mountain Azalea hadn't been blooming a week before the wedding. It complied with my prayers and popped out and graced us with an amazing smell and beautiful blossoms. They were a million times more beautiful than any florist flowers could be.

Trying to keep Pearl out of the water!

The Bridal Party "fun" shot.

Purty pictures.

Markus' GQ moments.

"Us" Photos

Casual portrait after ceremony.

Up on the boulder! Yes I climbed up there in my dress.

Photo in front of Mount Shasta on way down the mountain (the sun was a little bright).

Wedding party leaving ceremony.

Leaving the ceremony.

Wedding: Ceremony Guests

2008-09-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Ceremony decor.

Lara cools herself off with the fans we brought all the way from Samoa!

Nephew Joe hamming it up as he gets his boutonniere.

Jodi pins on Nick's boutonniere.

My sister, Rebecca, pins on Ben's boutonniere.

The guests were off to the side of a fallen tree.

Markus' parents Elisabeth and Eugen.

My friend Sara, all the way from San Diego!

My step-mother Carolyn and her husband, Dave.

My sister, Michelle, with our grand-niece, Scarlett. Michelle is wearing the handmade dragonfly brooch I got the women instead of corsages from Etsy.

Bestman, Joe Lotz and his wife, Erin. What a handsome couple!

The nephews, Joe, Nick and Ben with my sister, Rebecca.

Post ceremony big hug from the big sis.

Jessica in her fabulous hat.

Reed was really adorable and sweet on our wedding day. She seemed enamored of Markus!

Pearl and her Samoan fan.

Greeting guests after the ceremony.

Wedding: Ceremony

2008-09-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

The ceremony was at Castle Lake up in the mountains outside Mount Shasta, in very northern California, where I grew up. It's a beautiful, pristine spot. I would say it's my favorite place on earth (of course, there are many close seconds).

Walking to the ceremony in my Dragonfly sandals (we used dragonflies for lots of stuff related to the wedding because of the beautiful dragonflies that inhabit the lakeshore). I put on my dancing shoes for the reception, but no way was I going to try to navigate the woods in heels. I had to go off-trail to sneak behind the giant boulder without anyone seeing me. I was so proud I didn't bite it on my way over the branches and bushes in my silk wedding dress.My great musicians. They played Pachabel's Canon in D classically and then picked it up and played it bluegrass uptempo like these guys (pick "Listen", then select Pachabel's Canon at the bottom) for us to walk down. They also played Rainbow Connection, Walking after Midnight, and the Theme to Prince Bride on special request.

Resting my dress in the wheelbarrow while I'm hiding behind the big boulder.

The girls sprinkled sweet pea petals that we picked from the side of the road in the morning.

Pearl wasn't too sure of this whole thing so she walked down with her mom, Hope, my Matron of Honor.

Walking down the "aisle" from behind the big boulder.

I had to hold my dress up so it wouldn't end up full of pine needles.

Don't you just love the people floating in the water watching the wedding?

Hope sings Mushaboom for us.

Jim reads Love in the Larger Sense by Kay

Greg reads Falling in love is like owning a dog by Taylor Mali.

Which makes us laugh.
Rebecca, my sister, reads Love is a Temporary Madness from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
by Louis de Berniers.

We do a Buddhist walking ceremony.

The rings of course.
The girls try not to be too bored.

Vows

Kissin'

We are pronounced husband and wife.
Yeah!!!!

Wedding: Getting Ready

2008-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I was really relaxed the morning of the wedding. Maybe too relaxed . . . I didn't leave enough time for getting my hair done and was running a little behind. It worked out fine though. I mean they weren't going to start without me right?

Markus was supposed to have a "nap" before hand but it looks like he had a beer or two instead. Hmmmm. . .

Pearl and Reed had their hair done by their grandma and auntie. Updoes no less! Who would have thought you could get a 9 and 4 year old's hair into a French Twist. Thank god for hair spray!

Rehearsal/Dinner

2008-09-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, cute flower girls and Matron of Honor.
You wouldn't think from this photo that there'd been a major crying breakdown minutes before, would you?

Markus' Samoan side coming out.

uuuuhhhhh . . . what do we do? where do we go? what's going on?

I guess it goes something like this . . .
Jim, you're going to loose the computer tomorrow, right?

Jim loooooves pie. Aren't those pies adorable? They all had hearts on the top.

Jim asked for a whole pie for himself, thinking there was no way I'd let him have it.
But as our officiant the man deserved a pie of his own.
Of course, he could only finish half!
Baby Scarlett, Michelle, Me and Rebecca

Nick, Ben and Joe, the nephews
Family Photo!

Pacific Arts Festival-Other People's Blogs

2008-08-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Some links to friend's blogs with good info and photos.
Many of these guys work across the street so they all took long (very long) lunch hours during the festival. And some even luckier others don't have day jobs so they could hang out all day long. Check them out-there's some good stuff!

Melanie's Posts:

Pacific Arts Festival, Part I

Pacific Arts Festival, Part II

Pacific Arts Festival, Part III

Carol's Post:

10th Festival of the Pacific Arts

Aaron's Posts:

Pacific Arts Festival

Pacific Arts Festival 2

Barbara's Posts:

the best festival ever

Pictures from the Pavillion

The stage

The stadium

Jeremy:

The Festival is Upon Us

Arts Festival Photos

A Loss for Words (Take That, Blau)

Lost for Words

Kelly:

Pacific Arts Festival--Part 1

Papua New Guinea

I would also keep checking The Harty's because I know that Julia took some awesome photos but it seems she hasn't had time to upload.

Pacific Arts Festival-Hawaiian Performers

2008-08-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

Pacific Arts Festival-Tonga

2008-08-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

The beautiful outdoor setting for daytime performances at Utulei beach with Rainmaker Mountain in the background.

Pacific Arts Festival-Papua New Guinea

2008-08-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

aPapua New Guinea performers!

Pacific Arts Festival-Fire Knife Performers

2008-08-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

Fire Knife performance at the Pacific Arts Festival!

Pacific Arts Festival-Tahitian Performers

2008-08-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

American Samoa hosted the 10th Pacific Arts Festival for two weeks and we were treated to the arts and culture of 26 Pacific Nations. This festival happens only every 4 years. There were performances throughout the day during the week, but I was unfortunately stuck at work. Luckily, there were performances at night as well.
There was a fabulous performance of Tahitian, Fijian, FireKnife Dancing one evening. These photos are from the Tahitian Performance. This was an evening outdoor show. It was a dramatic performance with the twilight clouds.

My Big, Fat Samoan Wedding (Reception)

2008-07-24T16:19:00.001-07:00

Ok, before anyone can get offended. . . that title is merely a play on the very popular movie about weddings with very strong cultural overtones.
Which is exactly what Markus and I were treated to last Saturday. The staff I work with felt sorry for me for missing out on the typical (American) Samoan wedding traditions. So they threw us a wedding. We were treated to two custom made wedding outfits. This is our first outfit. It was hand painted with glitter. Super cool. Markus calls it his Samoan Miami Vice outfit.

We do our siva (dance):

John sings for us:

The bridal party enters (they all got special bride's maid's puletasi's made for the occassion)

My "Dad" (aka some random guy named Eddy who was at the bar that says we are to name the first baby after him, sorry Eddy, I think not):

John marries us:

Then the Groom's Siva (he dances with his "family" (aka random people at the bar-I told him his family is just a bunch of drunks!) That woman in the middle was really into him, too. She picked him up like she was going to sling him over her shoulder and carry him away. That's MINE sista! Our palagi friend, Cliff, even got into the action, though when he got his dollar bills out, Julia intervened, finding it inappropriate for him to throw money at another male-no worries though, she did it for him!

The Bride's Siva (I got all the nice bride's maids as my family). Here's an action shot of them throwing money at me. I originally thought this was a traditional Samoan thing, until a friend from Western Samoa said she was shocked the first time she saw this at a wedding in Am Samoa. It's fun to dance in a pile of money in my opinion.

Then cake:

Gifts (yes this whole party AND $$-these guys are amazing):

Some of the sentiments on the card:

Then dinner:

Some of our palagi friends showed up for the festivities:

Dress change (many weddings end up with multiple costume changes. Bride's family's dress, groom's family's dress, etc.) This was a dress made from lovely traditional print material that John (my boss) brought from Apia where he lives when he's not at work. This was to signify our more traditional portion of the evening where we dance with the taupo (village virgin-signified by her leg tattoos)

Family Shot:

Then the after party:
Gangsta Shot (if you ask any Samoans, except a perhaps a group of women to pose, you will get this shot here):

And this is what you get after dancing barefoot in bars (it's impossible to siva in shoes):

My Samoan Wedding was fabulous. As always, more photos on my flickr site.

Coconuts and Paint

2008-07-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

go a long way here in American Samoa. The Pacific Arts Festival with it's 26 Country representation (unfortunately Vanuatu couldn't afford the trip or it would have been 27) has begun here on the island.

There has been an amazing effort to clean things up (even the beaches) and to decorate Samoan style. Everyone is in party mood. More on the actual performances later.

For now, just enjoy the roadside decor:

Presenting: Party A/Party B

2008-07-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here we are: A & B

California is now "allowing" same sex marriages. This law doesn't apply to my marriage, but it made for a cool application form.

No longer is there a line for "husband" or "man" and "wife" or "woman"

We are now Party A and Party B

I got to be Party A.
Here's the official document (thanks Leanne)

Though we got there right after the office opened, we were not the first Party A&Bs for the day. There were two men in line and they had brought in a copy of the Siskiyou County News with a front page story of the first couple in Siskiyou County to get their marriage certified.

The Party A and B in front of us looked a wee-bit confused when the clerk pulled out a booklet with a typical bride/groom picture on the front that was basically a "how to be married" pamphlet. She prefaced her presentation of the book with, "The State of California requires that I present you with this pamphlet."

When it was our turn we of course, ran into the "oh my god, there's no code in our database for American Samoa, there's one for Puerto Rico, Guam, CNMI, Area 51, The Moon, but nothing for American Samoa."

In an example of exactly how it would NOT have worked in Samoa, the clerk got on the phone with someone in the state government, who added Somoa (yes spelled like that) to the database. Then five minutes later, they corrected it to Samoa (spelled correctly). Wow. We were so impressed and happy. The clerks were happy because we weren't pissed with them as would other customers to their office in a similar situation. Living here definitely makes you appreciate efficiency. Sure there are glitches everywhere you are in the world, there are um just "different" ways of dealing with them.

As we were waiting for the database engineer to Google American Samoa (seriously that's what the clerk told us he was doing, and thus the Somoa (didn't he get the "did you mean SAMOA?" query?) I imagined how this would have gone down in American Samoa, "OKA (uh, oh). No code for American Samoa in the database." Followed by long, blank look, indicating this is your fault and you should do something about it now. Then, "Can you come back tomorrow?" Or "Go home. We'll call you when it's fixed (no call, ever)." Or "How about we use the state code for Alaska? That's close." Then, "No? Ok. We can't get you the certificate then. You can't get married. Fa." You think I'm exaggerating? You ask ANYBODY, Samoan or palagi and they will attest that this could have happened.

Another "funny" story related to our marriage certificate (hi, Jim!):
I get an email yesterday from Markus, subject line: "not married yet", but with "I still love you in the body of the message" to take the sting out of the situation I presume.
What The!
When you do your marriage certificate the clerks make you sign the thing in their office. I think they are afraid you might have one too many at the wedding (perhaps confusing the "Party A" and "Party B" not as a title but more as a command), sign the wrong name or something, scratch it out, and write something else. This usually voids a legal document. They allow the officiant to sign their name at the time of the ceremony, they are, after all, the person "doing" the wedding.
And, of course, the officiant won't have had one too many because, well, he's the "serious" guy at the wedding. The "official" dude. Sometimes even religious and stodgy. Well not our officiant. PAAAARTY!

Apparently, the clerks office does not take kindly to: The Universal "Search" (scratch out) and replace with "Church", and will reject your marriage license in this case.

It's interesting that our officiant did not email both of us, but instead emailed only my "husband" . . .
(hmmmmmmm, perhaps my reputation precedes me"-said in the manner of John Stewart)

Apparently, we are still married in the eyes of the Universal Search but until our officiant does his paper work (hopefully sober this time) we don't have the papers to prove it. Good news, though we'll still be "married" on July 6, 2008.

And along the lines of officialness, names etc. I will be Ms. EliZabeth Weltin (not to be confused with Mrs. EliSabeth Weltin, Markus' mom). However, I will not change my name officially until we are off-island. I refuse to relinquish my passport while I am in American Samoa, as the idea of not being able to get off the island if I need to makes me want to run screaming for the hills. And, if you have some official documents in one name and some in another there is much, much, much confusion here which I'd like to avoid.

Here's a funny random photo that says it all, which I got in Mount Shasta (this was NOT staged-well, ok, I did turn one of the bottles around so you could see the label). Addendum: The bottles are Vodka and MD 20/20 (a.k.a Mad Dog, a.k.a Bum Wine).

My Favorite Holiday

2008-07-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

is the Fourth of July and this year I got to spend it in my favorite spot to celebrate, Mount Shasta! It's also a special time because it's the weekend Markus and I got together.

I'd been "training" for the Fourth of July run prior to coming back to the states, but the altitude, lack of sleep, and general malaise made me decide the two mile run was more my speed.

Markus, on the other hand, who had not been training, decided since he'd just gotten to the states three days before, was still jet-lagged and hadn't trained at all, that he'd do the 5 mile run.

Two years before on the weekend we got together, we had run the five mile together. I'd been training then, too, and had a slow but decent pace. Markus hadn't trained or exercised for about a year is my guess, since he'd been finishing his Master's. He didn't seem to feel that run too much and apparently it went to his head, and two years later he nearly killed himself. Two days before our wedding, too. He could barely walk for the next two days.

The run is cool. Everyone, and I mean everyone comes out for it.

This is Reed finishing the two mile. Can't you just hear the Chariott's of Fire in the background?

And here's Pearl, who kicked it up for the camera.

There's music and free food along the course. Though Burger King doesn't really sound good when you're trying to get a little O2 to the lungs.

And the retirement home brings out the residents for a little flag waving action.

I wanted to stay for the raffle, they give away a car every year, but we had to go get to the lake. Luckily, I didn't miss my chance, someone else won as they've done every year I've been in the run.

We skipped the parade (even though I love seeing Smokey the Bear-I think this is the same Bear from my childhood) but couldn't talk the kids into passing up the crappy candy the multitudes of public service vehicles throw out their vehicular windows.

We rented a boat (party barge) at Siskiyou Lake and drove around the lake. It was pretty windy (making for a smoke free day) so it was a little chilly at times but we found a place to jump in. Surprisingly, my heart didn't stop at the temperature of the water. In fact it was quite comfortable! I guess the island living hasn't turned me into a total whimp.

We could see the fireworks all lined up on the beach. You can also see the action here (credit for the fireworks photo is there).

We had a BBQ at the resort. Joe and Erin brought their garbage can o' beer.

Then we headed up for the best fireworks EVER over the lake. Good friends, good day.

2008-06-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

I'm stateside these days!
Took a trip to Vegas after I got here for a conference. It was actually cool to be in the desert. Obviously so very different than Samoa. It was a bit overwhelming though.

Headed back to Portland for some wedding preparation and then started the journey south to the mountains and trees!
Saw a lot of beauty on the road:

And some things I don't miss:

Hope and Jim loaned me their Vanagon and I camped in beautiful Ashland (where I lived prior to moving to Samoa & where my house is). When I visit A-land I miss it sooo much. It's so beautiful. Below are some pictures of Emmigrant Lake outside of Ashland.

Had the best pizza in Oregon at Caleidoscope Pizza in Medford and now I'm in Mount Shasta getting ready for the big day.

There have been fires south and west of Mt.Shasta and if there isn't a wind the smoke settles in the valley. I couldn't even see the Mountain this morning, but now it's cleared some. Let's hope it's made it's way out by next Sunday!

It's still beautiful as ever in Siskiyou County! Here's Lake Siskiyou. Not where we will get married but where we'll be having a great time on our "Super Party Barge" on the 4th of July with our guests and family.

Welcome to the Mainland

2008-06-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Ah, summer. Well, summer by Pacific Northwest standards that is. So, I freeze at night here, I'm sure I'll get used to it-eventually.

It's nice to be home in time for fresh produce, blue skies, and happy sun deprived people.

My friend's house, situated smack in the Portland/Metro Area is becoming quite the urban farm-honey bees and weird little, deranged chickens. I can run from chickens all the way across the Pacific and they will still find me! Thank god there are no grown roosters yet, but I got my eye on that white one with the wattle!

I've always got the great food to comfort me!

The first day I was back, after a sumptuous meal of strawberry crapes we decided we just hadn't had enough strawberries!

I went with my friends Hope, Jim and their kids Reed and Pearl and met up with other friends Leanne and Lucy to pick strawberries on lovely Sauvie Island. It's an oasis of down-home farming right outside Portland. There's a u-pick farm that caters to the alt culture & 30 somethings and their prodiginy. They pay good money to go out in the fields and pick their own produce, hang out on the grass eatting yummy food and listening to cool, local bands.

We took all our produce home and had strawberry tarts and strawberry pie. OH, ya!

What's in a Name?

2008-06-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

There was a recent flurry of emails amongst the palagis on-island sharing funny names we've come across since moving here. I'm sure there are weird names stateside but it seems like there is more than the fair share here in Samoa. I think with the shear volume of children in families there might be some baby naming fatigue contributing to the problem. Also, Samoan names can often have literal translations, naming a child "water" is common and makes for a nice name. Unfortunately literal names in English are often just regrettable. I can assure you that these are real names we've come across since moving here. Here's what we've come up with so far. If any of you reading this has more to add feel free!
Names:
29
Abcde
Aetalo - means eat taro
Afasene (half-a-cent)
Alcapone
Anewvision
Army and Navy (Brothers)
Baby
Batchlor (spelled like that)
Bear
Beaver Ho Ching
Billclinton
Boyblue
California
Christmas
Cinderella
Clever
Conference
Dynamite
Eddie & Edwin (Two brothers, possibly twins)
Fa'afetai (thank you)
Fa'afetai Fa'afetai Jr.
Fabulous
Fantastic
Fiapapalagi
Gasoliga (remember the g=n)
Hail-Mary
Han Solo
Happy
Hurricane
Kirisimasi (Christmas)
Kuwait
Larrybird
LBJ (The hospital is named LBJ)
Lima (5 or hand in Samoan, was probably the fifth kid)
Marie Antoinette Resurrected
Moonstar
Muliei
New Year
Nixon
Omaha
Oti (dead)
Pago Pago
Pluto
Ponce de Leon
Popeye
Poti (Male Sex Organ)
Pretty
Princess
Pu'u Brown
Queen.
Rainmaker
Rapture
Rectal
Rocky and Rambo (brothers)
Roketi (Rocket---tons of those)
Saddam
Salvation
Samoa
Shaqkobe or Kobeshaq
Socrates
Souvenir
Sterchicht
Superbowl
Tajmahal
Tutuila (The name of our island)
Ultimate Warrior
United States of America
United States of Samoa

Great Auntie

2008-05-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Or Where's My Rocking Chair, Sonny?
I knew those gray hairs were coming out for some reason. It's official! I'm old! Why? Because my nephews are having babies! And to top it all off, they are doing it before me!

Here's the latest edition to the Clan: Scarlett at her healthy 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches. I like a girl with meat on her bones!

So here's the story, though I am old, I am officially too young to be a Great Auntie. My sister, 11 years my senior, probably feels too young to be a Grandma, but what age are you old enough to feel great about being a called grandma, even if you are ok with being a grandma? Here's a picture of the proud Papa and my sister, Rebecca (don't we look alike?).
I was my parent's "Are you sure your pregnant?" baby. My other sister, Michelle, is 10 years my senior. So no baby for ten years-they thought they were in the clear, ha, ha, Ha, HA! I had other plans, no way was I going out without a fight. I just had to think about things for a while, see if it was in my best interest to get born, and mull it over for a while. Not like I've ever done that in any other part of my life . . . It's wild to think that my mom was the same age I am when she had me. And had she had thought she was done with the diapers, bottles, and late nights--good thing she had two babysitters already living at home. So, I was an Aunt at a very young age and now I am a Great Aunt at a semi-young age.

Congratulations Nick and Jodi! You've made me a proud Auntie! I can't wait to play with Scarlett at my wedding!

Weebles Wobble

2008-05-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

And Do Fall Down

A couple of weeks ago we decided to hike Massacre Bay again. You might remember an earlier post of mine a little less than a year ago about hiking this trail. It is not for the faint of heart. Hard work, hot and disorienting, and apparently, it's also dangerous. Well, that is when you walk over palm leaves which happen to be hiding a pile of rotting coconuts.

After walking for a couple of hours to get to the beach, I was rambling around in the jungle trying to find the path out to the beach when I twisted my ankle and came down hard. Rolling around on the jungle floor, holding my leg, sobbing and crying, "My ankle! My ankle!" was not exactly how I imagined my hike to end. Of course, I immediately started imagining myself on crutches at my wedding and began kicking myself for not having enclosed myself weeks ago into a hermetically sealed environment.

I had to do the treacherous climb out of the jungle on a bum ankle. It REALLY HURT! Thank god for the ever present lava-lava and the diverse uses it can be put too-for example, the Samoan Ace Bandage.

Once off the mountain and drugged with pain killers and beer I was a little better. It's gotten A LOT better over the past couple of days and I'm even thinking of running again, though with my ankle encased in one of my pathetically many braces. Thank the powers that be that I won't be shopping for white, satin crouches when I head home in a couple of weeks.

My Friend Had A Baby...

2008-05-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

And I Nearly Had A Heart Attack

I was really looking forward to the delivery of my friends’ Melanie and Paul’s baby. Though I’d taken care of my friend Carol during her pregnancy here, she decided to have her baby off island, an understandable, though sad for me decision. So Melanie was going to be my first friend to deliver!

Luckily, I am a seasoned midwife and I know not to get any fantasies going about how things are going to work out. I wasn’t going to jinx this birth with thoughts of an easy, effortless labor where the baby miraculously appears with little effort, into arms free of exhaustion and tears of joy and champagne corks popping.

But I’m not a doom and gloomer, either. I have great faith that things will work out if you don’t ignore what you don’t want to see. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, is my motto.

Melanie’s labor took a couple of days to kick in with a few jump starts. Nicely, Ona and she waited until after I had recovered from my Sunday night shift and had a full night’s sleep on Monday night. What great gals, eh?

We’d planned to do early labor at home, with Carol who’s a NP as well as a long time L&D nurse, as support person and attendant. Melanie had bought a fetal heart monitor-not a bad one I must say for the home type-so we could listen in on the baby. Melanie bought a wading pool at my suggestion, which Paul attended to when Mel was in labor.

I came by at lunch but had to go back to the clinic. It was nice and peaceful there in comparison to the labor ward-I had a really hard time going. Carol brought Scott, her baby, to hang out for a while too. Not long after I got back to the hospital, I got a call from Carol that Ona was starting to feel the contractions now that Melanie was having hard labor. They came straight into the hospital.

Low and behold, little Ona was not having a great time at her Birthday party. Even though Melanie was moving quickly in her progress it would be too stressful on Ona to wait. So I had to do what I dreaded and make the decision for a cesarean delivery. No warm and fuzzy delivery for us today! Plus that would sign up Melanie to 2-3 days in the unairconditioned, low-rent Maternity Ward and Ona to the nursery!

Things went well, Ona was out in a very short period of time, after unwrapping the umbilical cord from her neck twice and proving my assumption that she had been in what we call a “posterior” position, meaning her head was down but she was looking up at the ceiling instead of the other way around like she should have been. That was probably the best position she could manage with her short umbilical teether. So her stress explained, she transitioned well in the beginning except some fast breathing that she eventually grew out of, aka transient tachypnea of the newborn.

I won’t lie to you, it’s stressful when someone is near and dear and their well-being lies in your hands. I don’t know why it should be different then all the other people I care for, but it is. It probably shouldn’t be that way, but I tell you if I had a heart attack every time I had to decide that a baby was in distress, I would have a lot more gray hairs than I have now-and I’d be in another business all together. I think it’s fine to take care of people you care about, I don’t think it clouds your judgment, I just think it puts the caregiver into a temporary state of split personality. A state that is a relief to let go of when it’s over.

I loved taking care of my friends and would do it again in a heartbeat. I just wouldn’t trust anyone else to do it as well-haha (sorta). I am so happy to have been part of Paul, Melanie, Ona and, big sister, Emma’s experience. You can Melanie and Paul's account of the experience on their blog, don't miss their fun review of the hospital, I mean the Tropical Medical Center.

Now I just need to go and take a nap . . .

Happy Birthday Ona Lily Brown, born May 6, 2008

Virgin Cove

2008-04-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

For two nights we stayed at the highly recommended Virgin Cove. Many people have said the place was really romantic and affordable.

We stayed in a Secluded Fale the first night, and because it was booked the following night we had to move to a standard fale.

Secluded Fale:

Nice Beach at the Secluded Fale

Standard Fale:

Outdoor shared toilets

Shower

Sinks

There were a few disappointments at Virgin Cove. Friends who had stayed here previously had said that dinner and breakfast were included in the fale price. Not so when we got there. Breakfast only. And the dinner was not that great and definitely not worth what they were charging. We spent the next night eating pizza in Apia-of course Virgin Cove tried to charge me for dinner the night we were gone.

I really liked the secluded fale with it's own piece of beach heaven. The standard fales weren't that great and no beach. I think it's worth the money for the nicer place.

The road to Virgin Cove is a spine breaker and the thought of going back and forth on it not too appealing. It's quite a drive from the main road so once you get to Virgin Cove you should be ready to stay there. And you can swim and relax, but we do that so much it didn't have the appeal it might have to stressed out mainlanders.

I thought it was a beautiful place but I wasn't blown away.

The moon was almost full the night we were there and as the sunset and the moon rose I floated in the calm water. This interesting celestial phenomenon happened with a shadow shooting up into the sky. If anyone knows the scientific explanation for this let me know. I can't figure it out.

Aggie Grey Bungalow

2008-04-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

Our last night was spent at Aggie Grey's again. We opted for a Fale Bungalow in the courtyard of the hotel. Last time we had a Harbor View. As we get a harbor view every day at home we opted for something different.

These fales have been around since the early years of the hotel and have names of famous people that stayed in them. We got the Nixon Fale. I think this might explain why Markus got bedbug bites while he was laying on the kids bed watching Alien vs. Predator (for some reason I opted out of this tv treat).

I love the way Aggies looks and decorates their nice rooms. They are always liberal with the hibiscus flower decorating. They put them everywhere!

We hung out watching tv, soaking in the pool drinking potent fruity beverages and then went to Upolu deep for some snorkeling. It's shocking to realize that we are grown up enough to stay at nice places like this (well, minus the bed bugs and horrible front desk inefficiency=they wanted to take an imprint of my credit card three times, charged me for room service we did not have and could NOT get us checked out!-I left without officially checking out-hey they have three imprints of my credit card!)

Western Samoa Roadside Images

2008-04-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about being in Western Samoa is driving around and seeing the way of life in there and comparing it to Am Sam. Since the roads aren't hairpin curves as in American Samoa you can go faster than 20 mph. There aren't many cars out, esp outside Apia-and certainly not SUVs and giant $40,000 trucks as in American Samoa.

There are more people walking on the road than driving. Sunday is a fun day to drive, because most people stay home and go to church. Many church goers (esp Catholic) wear white to church. People seem to be healthier from all the walking.

Outside of Apia, most Western Samoans still live in the traditional open Fales. They are kept in much better condition than the open fales in Am Sam. It's fun to drive around at night and see TV's glowing inside the fales.

This man was hand carving an outrigger canoe with his grandchildren watching.

This is a bathing pool in a family's compound.

They also have many, many horses and apparently they double as low impact lawnmowers.

Black Sand Beach

2008-04-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

I won't write a lot about Black Sand Beach as a picture is worth a thousand words. I love this beach. And this time the surf was mild so we got to snorkel.

Fresh fruit from the market in Apia!

Shells from Coconuts-a great place for drinks and a walk on the beach.

Apia

2008-04-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Apia town. The Big City. The Bright Lights.

The Harbor.

The home store of Samoan handmade coco oil and soap products, Mailelani.

We did a wee-bit of shopping for the wedding at the market and apparently sent a rush on fans. We could only get good prices (you should only pay 5 tala (2 US) for a fan, not 8 ($3)-ridiculous!) from urchins on the street. We sought those buggers out high and low-they were happy to see the palagis with arms full of fans and fists full of tala!

We mostly just go to Western Samoa to eat I think.

The aftermath of another fine meal at The Curry House on the Cross-Island Road.
Something I've learned since living here: Fiji has a high Indian population with generations of Indian immigrants. Fiji is well known for it's Indian food and if a South Pacific Island is lucky enough to get an Indian immigrant from Fiji to open a restaurant, the locals are happier for it. There is a business opportunity in American Samoa if there are any Fijian chefs out there reading this.

Real European Espresso?

One lump or two?

Giordano's Pizza two nights in a row-completely without shame or remorse.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza-Pie! I love the Italianesque decor with the Samoan Fale Roof.

Tasty Beer (lager, of course, but apparently dark beers aren't allowed below the equator).

All Dressed Up and Actually Some Place To Go!
Full Priced First Run Movie for Two? 12 Tala ($4.93 US)

Outside Apia in the hills is the famous Sliding Rock.
A series of pools and slick rocks that you can sit on and slide. I thought I'd be freewheeling down those puppies but once we got there, fantasies of brain injuries and a solid knowledge of the health care system in small tropical islands kept me in the pools. It was wonderful to swim in freshwater.

British Royal Intrigue Discovered on Our Walk Along the Harbor.
Could there be Samoan British Royals?
Is Queen Victoria's Secret Husband Buried in Samoa?
Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

Seabreeze

2008-04-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

We started our trip with real espresso coffee drinks and fabulous grilled wraps at Sydney Side Cafe, a wonderful (though pricey) true cafe, with fresh and non-deep fried ingredients (difficult to find in American Samoa), in downtown Apia.

We spent some time at the markets afterwards. I am convinced that the Samoan handicrafts at the produce market are of higher quality and are cheaper than the flea market.

Then we headed to our lovely lodgings at Seabreeze Resort. A "mid-sized" resort ($150 US/night for the queen ocean view) owned by a New Zealand couple on the South side of the island.

The craftsmanship of the place, the beauty and privacy of the beach and small grounds, and the fabulous cliff hugging restaurant with tasty and well-priced meals make the price worth it.

The surf was a bit rough the day we were there, but we snorkeled anyway and there were some interesting things to see. Apparently, there are nice beaches very close that you can kayak (for an hourly fee) to that have even better snorkeling.

Hellu Upolu

2008-04-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of the American Samoan Flag Day holidays. Two days off work to celebrate the Americanization of Samoa.

To celebrate we went to Western Samoa. I think this speaks to how I've come to feel about the American influence on Tutuila (American Samoa)

So with Markus' recent birthday as an excuse we jumped on a plane and headed to Upolu, a mere 30 minutes away by tiny, overloaded commuter plane.

Beautiful Upolu.

A place where you can't see the end of the island, even in a plane.

A place with something like a real city.

A place with flat lands.

A place of real beaches.

A place where every inch of habitable land isn't built upon.

Oh, Upolu! How I love you!

Really? Seriously?

2008-04-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

PISUPO THIEF CONFESSES TO STEALING SPREE

A 20-year old man from Faleula who was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment for stealing a can of corned beef from Ming and Hannah's Store at Fugalei voluntarily admitted in court to other acts of theft.

No written records of previous convictions were found by the prosecution however, the accused himself admitted to previous convictions.

The accused confirmed for the court that he had also stolen corned beef from a shop at Vailele and shoes and a shirt from Frankie Molesi. Judge Vaepule Vaemoa Vaai accepted his confession as a mitigating factor.

Other mitigating factors included pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity and because the corned beef he stole was returned.

For telling the truth, three weeks were struck off from the eight-week sentence handed down to the thief.

He will now serve only five weeks imprisonment.

The accused reportedly walked into Ming and Hannah in early October 2007 and grabbed a 3 lb Oxford can of corned beef.

He hid it under his shirt and left the store.

On his way out, the accused was spotted by shop workers who chased him to the nearby Fugalei Market where he was caught.

The corned beef was recovered and safely returned to the super market shelf.

(Source: Samoalive/Newsline)

This guy was willing to go to jail for this:

Let me guess what they serve in jail?

Palagi Olympics

2008-03-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

So what does a group of highly educated professionals (lawyers, librarians, engineers, environmentalists, researchers, information specialists, human resource directors, oh yeah and midwife) do for fun on an island in the middle of the South Pacific?

You got it! Compete!
At What? Games.
Involving what? Oh, maybe a little beer.

And what do you call it?

Palagi Olympics.

What's the harm of a little bacchanal every once in a while I say?

Where's Markus in these photos you might ask? Oh, diving of course. Last minute invite to go out on a boat was not turned down for drunken silliness, go figure.

Prior to our opening game of Sloshball (you can refer to an earlier post for more details on this game, near and dear to my heart) teams were chosen via random pingpong ball selection. This game became very complicated to me at some point (perhaps around beer number three) as I was both playing first base and running to second at the same time. It took a couple of minutes to realize why all my teammates were yelling at me and waving there hands. Personally, I thought my run was quite good.

The next day we convened with matching uniforms (lava-lava's of course). Some were a bit more inventive than others.

We chose our "country's" names.

And commenced to play.

Beer Relay (drink a beer, flip the cup)Our Team Won of Course!

Rotten-Egg Toss
Interestingly many of the eggs bounced. I have no idea why.
Nate's didn't bounce off his face though.

Astronaut Training
I was too dizzy to get any pictures

Three Legged Race
This was really fun. No pictures here either. Too busy trying to stay upright.
I think our team won but it was probably by cheating.

The NEVER ENDING BEER PONG

And lastly,
Pisupo Eating Contest (Pisupo is a general term used to discribe food that comes in a can. But it's also very specific to a nasty, high fat version of corned beef that is well loved in Samoa). It smells and tastes like what I imagine cat food to be like.

What is very interesting in these games is the ability to challenge any win or decision simply because you want to (ah, lawyers, you got to hand it to them). The issue is not settled by reason or evidence, but by a version of roshambo (newt, roach, shoe). By the evening this concept can be problematic when combined with no food, lots of beer, and high competitive spirits. I still enjoyed myself immensely.

More photos on my flickr site.

Should I Be Worried? or Life in the Geekosphere

2008-03-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, granted, I knew what I was getting myself into by hooking up with a computer geek.

Long rambling one-sided (and yet perversely passionate) discussions peppered with inscrutable acronyms: SPS, BOINC, TSP.
Nights aglow with the blue screens of multiple computers.
A partner jacked into the BORG more often than not.
Obsessive behavior aimed at inanimate electrical objects.
Awful spelling (worse than mine).
A general disinterest in words printed on paper products.

But this?
I found Markus laughing hysterically at this comic not too long ago:
Entitled:
Travelling Salesman Problem
(and yes it was spelled like that)

Now I know it has something to do with this idea of a Traveling Sales Man figuring out his routes. And Markus' project that's trying to solve it. However, I can tell that this is not a comic worthy of five minutes of rolling on the floor laughing and chat dialog including ROTFL.

Then maybe a day or so later Markus says, "Hey! Do you know what day we missed?"
To which I reply, "Valentines, Easter, St. Patrick's Day?"
Blank look, followed by wide smile, "No! Pi-Day!"
Yes, Pi = 3.1415926535.. Day. Which of course was March 14!
"And what do you do on Pi day," I ask?
"Eat Pie, I guess!" he says.
Hmm, maybe it IS a celebration I can get behind after all. Except I have a sneaking suspicion that I would be the one making the pie.

Camping at Amalau

2008-03-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've written about Amalau before and how pristine and beautiful it is when I had my birthday bash there. Recently, we returned for a camping party with a group of friends. It was our first time taking out the tent and camping gear that I was determined to bring to the island (we'll use it again I'm sure for our honeymoon in New Zealand).

It was a beautiful day, though the surf was really high again. I still took the kayak out and it was gorgeous.

We had a BBQ with friends and a bonfire on the beach. Here's the guys with their Bag o'Meat.

And a chicken that decided an electrical box was just the thing for roosting. There is a door on this box and I really have no idea how she gets in there.

Einstein was a little uncertain all night long. I'm not sure if he's grown out of camping or what but he kept patrolling the parimeter all night long.

In the middle of the night, the storm that had drenched the place had moved out to sea. The stars were out by the millions and out at sea you could see the lightening blazing the horizon. I haven't seen anything more magical on this island.

Rule of 100s

2008-03-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

Since Markus rarely gives updates I thought I'd let you know what he's up to!
Markus made his 100 dives last month! He's also figured out how to film movies underwater!
He's now also in the Advanced Diver's Course. More Markus underwater photos.

Tut-tut, It Looks Like Rain

2008-03-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

"So, what's the weather like in American Samoa?" is an oft spoke query.
To which I almost always reply, "82 degrees. Everyday."
Which isn't the whole story, really. Because sometimes it's really humid.
And sometimes there's a lot of wind. Sometimes the sun is out and the skies are clear. And often, very often, it rains. It's always still 82 degrees (sometimes a bit hotter in the concrete jungle of Tafuna-nothing like miles of asphalt without greenery at the equater to knock the thermostat up a couple of notches).

We have a variety of rain types. Just a little. A lot, but passing through. None in the morning, a lot at dusk. A bunch on the mountain, nothing at the beach. Torrents on the Westside, sunny on the Eastside. And then there are the hurricane level rains that batter our tin roof and make us put the movie on pause and hope it lets up enough so we can watch the end. The rain is always warm which is nice. There maybe days when it rains buckets all day long, but the doors and windows remain open. Not like the months in the PNW where you huddle inside, slowly moldering, keeping Starbucks in the black, wondering if this is the winter that you will be crawling to the doctor's office groveling for an RX of little blue pills of happiness for your Seasonal Affective Disorder, and then when the sun finally peeks out in say mid July, you shriek in terror at the fireball in the sky, "What IS that THING?!"

So, we've been having a weebit of weather of late and I thought I'd share as I don't have much to talk about but the weather.

And this is what can happen when your retaining wall isn't really retaining but is just a bunch of concrete block piled up on a mass of boulders:

Before:

After:

AbsenteeMindedness

2008-03-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

I'm posting a recent email I sent out to friends as I believe there are people on-island that check out my blog, but for whom I may not have email addresses.

This email may not apply to you for a number of reasons:
1) You moved to a small island in the South Pacific for a reason! And don't care to take part in Stateside politics
2) You are a US National but can't vote-oh, that's fair.
3) You are from another country and only use US Politics as a punch line to your jokes
4) You are fleeing the island prior to Nov 4

But . . . just in case you DO want to vote in the up coming election from American Samoa, please check out this website and get yourself registered ASAP. This site takes care of it all for you.

Let your vote be known even if it's coming from a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific.

https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/home.htm

Blinking Question Mark of Death or The Value of Backing Up Your Harddrive in a Tropical Environment

2008-02-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

My trusty Mac laptop has finally given up on island life. The humidity, the multiple high impact trips off-island dragged through customs and security, the all night music downloads, have all done "Flash" in.

Sunday I awoke to a blank black screen. No signs of life. After a restart (like CPR on an already brain dead victim) a pulse was reestablished, but unfortunately no activity in the hard drive.

The states of grief ensued.

Denial

"Oh, that's ok!" I have a lot of stuff backed up, ok, sure maybe not everything!" Like all of 2007-08 photos, wedding stuff, my novel (thank you Google docs!). But this would mean a new computer! Sure, the frequent crashes might have been trying to tell me something ("back me up, I'm terminal") and I'd been thinking, "Oh, I'll get a new computer when I absolutely have to!"

Anger

"Oh, my god! I really need all that data! I'm SUCH AN IDIOT!"

Then Anger at AppleStore

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU WON'T SELL ME A $1300 COMPUTER BECAUSE MY BILLING ADDRESS IS IN AMERICAN SAMOA! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!"

Bargaining

"Please, oh please boot just long enough for me to get my files! Then I'll let you go for good! I PROMISE!"

Frantic internet searches revealed interesting solutions:
Freeze your computer!

Error Code: "ADF3389THANKYOUFORTHEFREEZEJOBI'MSTILLDEAD45JL23"

Boot from Network Disk, boot from CD, boot from external harddrive, boot it will praying, fanning the computer, and standing it on end.

Yeah, none of that worked.

And so, acceptance.

On a whim early in the morning I turned on the computer.

And it booted and I could copy files. For about a half hour.

So every morning for the past couple of days, like a very senile Uncle, my computer wakes up, talks to my external harddrive for 30-45 minutes and then craps out and sleeps for the rest of the day.

Hopefully, by the time my new digital beauty shows up after Apple deigned to sell me a new computer after I changed my billing address to Oregon, I'll have my files.

Life lesson. If you're going to bring your computer to a tropical island (and if you don't have a computer here you'll feel 50% more isolated) you better expect it to go the way of all things here, bleached, moldy, insect ridden, and ultimately ruined.
But then you get to buy new stuff!

Back in the Blogosphere

2008-02-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

by popular demand. The clambering masses have demanded more blogging and I will comply! FYI- The photos in this blog are not of Samoa-it does NOT snow here! And they may not have anything to do with the text directly adjacent, however what's a blog without photos?

Where did January go? It was a blur of getting a continuing medical education trip approved ("Excuse me, did I mention it's in my contract?" "You see, right here, in my contract?") so that I could improve my skills on the ultrasound machine. We have a beautiful state of the art machine here and I have really enjoyed learning this new skill that I think helps the clinic and the patients. Unfortunately, the training wasn't in say, Hawaii, or Boston, New Orleans, or New York, nor Florida, California, the Bahamas, Mexico or even Las Vegas. Helloooo Dallas!

"Well," thought I, "at least it will be warm."

Weather Report: "An unusually frigid and icy cold front has descended upon Dallas Fortworth area. Forecast calls for gray dull skies, ice-like rain and generally nasty weather. Incredibly the entire rest of Texas and the rest of the nation is enjoying a warm spell with temperatures in the 80s!!" Ok, maybe the last part wasn't true, but COME ON! If I'm going to Texas, it shouldn't be threatening snow!

The perks of my trip-a great training despite the lack of models (it's hard to practice obstetrical ultrasound on one another when no one is pregnant-huh, go figure) who were in no mood to go out into the nasty weather, free ultrasound or no.

Dallas is known for it's shopping. I have posted in the past of the need to "provision" while off island. I did so. No photos of this as my hands were full.

The corporate suite was another bonus. For a change of pace it was fun to have two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen (full), three tvs, two bathrooms all to myself. And someone to clean up after me every day. We don't have TV on the island so I gorged. Wake up, click. Come in from training, click. It was a good lesson in how there really is nothing on tv and of course there was the writer's strike not making matters better. I don't think I need to watch any tv for another 6 months.

I returned to Portland after the training to visit with friends and their kids. Portland was cold and rainy. Imagine that. The Pacific Northwest in January. What was I expecting? My delicate self nearly turned into a popsical. I had to be driven straight from the airport to Old Navy (ok it was really the next day) as my sun bleached Castaway attire would not cut it. I had pulled together a few odds and ends of "warm clothing" but I still looked pretty pathetic shivering away next to the darkly clad city folk who were covered from head-to-toe.

One of the highlights of the trip was spending a few days in the mountains enjoying time with friends and their newly adopted children. It snowed and I got to soak in a hot tub. There are very few tubs on the island. Who wants to soak in a tub when you can just go float around in the 80 degree ocean? It was quite a pleasure! I miss mountains and trees and the house was gorgeous. Getting to know my friends beautiful kids was great. You can see me soaking in the hot tube fully clothed Samoa-style, I've really gone tropo-just kidding I left my bathing suit behind.

Some wedding planning, a lot of shopping, a whole lot of microbrew and eating out and I was back on island. Feeling warm and toasty and glad to be back.

February is my one year anniversary on-island. My half-way mark for my contract. It was good to get off island to realize how much I enjoy living here. I love the people. I love the land. I love the weather. I have great friends. I love the pace of life. So will I be going back at the end of my contract? I'm not so sure anymore.

There are things about Samoa that are hard and I've mostly left those things out of my blog the past year. Intentionally. To see if my view changed on things that initially seemed irksome. And somethings did become less important. There are still a few that are challenging. Since I started my blog I've been asked for lots of advice from people thinking of moving here. I think the future of my blog will include updates on my life but also will tackle what it's like to move here from another country, what one can expect, what things to bring, what to leave behind. Hopefully, people will find it helpful. And maybe it will help me to decide where I will be a year from now.

Aaron's Xmas Eve Party

2007-12-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Aaron, fondly known to us as "The New Guy" or "TNG" though he's been on-island as long as me, hosted yet another successful party at his house. Rich brought fake snow, thank you Rich! The Harty's brought our Kid Reps, Everette and Simon (thanks Julia and Cliff). Everybody brought fabulous food, thank you everyone. Naomi's friends from Hawaii brought key Xmas elements such as: eggnog and cranberries, thanks Naomi's friends! Nikki brought a fabulous Mimosa drinkie, thank you Naomi. And everyone brought a "nice gift" and a "crap gift". There was some cut throat gift exchanging at the end but fun was had by all. Here are a few key moments:

Samoa Xmas Lights

2007-12-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

The utter lack of seasons here in Samoa requires a lot of effort to get that Xmas feeling in the air. Samoan's have found the solution with huge light displays (how they pay for it with our expensive diesel generated electricity is beyond me, but bless them, somehow they make it happen!)

Here's a sampling:

Samoan Xmas Work Party

2007-12-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

Work Xmas parties have never been on my top 10 list of "fun things to do". Thank god I moved to Samoa. If there is one thing Samoans have perfected it is the art of having fun.

Samoan's have a different partying style with lots of dancing and singing, skits, and games. They have perfected not taking themselves seriously which makes for a lot of fun. Even the older folks and "important" people can still play and have fun.

The department chief proved himself a great singer and good sport. Here are a few highlights.

Kilisimasi Samao

2007-12-25T10:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I have to admit it took me a little time to get into the Christmas spirit here. It is perpetual summer in my mind. But a few Christmas Parties and a whole lotta baking and Christmas lights later and I have to admit it was a fun first Samoan Christmas.

One of the best things about Samoa at Christmas are the fabulous all-out Christmas decorations at the churches. And forget about religiously appropriate decorations, we are talking the cult of Disney here. Well, that is except the Samoan Fale Nativity.

Dinner with the Governor

2007-12-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

Or as I like to call him, "Sir."
Yes, yours truly has had the royal treatment at the Governor's Mansion for dinner. How, you may ask, did this happen? A lowly midwife such as myself? No, it wasn't to receive any honors for my hard work serving the women of American Samoa.

It's because of who I know. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, "It's all who you know, people." And in this case it was my future husband. You thought I was going to tell you I delivered some important family's grandchild or something right?

No, it's because Markus likes to dive. And our friend was the Governor's dive instructor. There are few resources on island for dive instruction (Paul and now Jay), few people that dive, and no dive outfitters or excursionists. So Paul and the dive guys are the lucky ones who got to hang with the Governor.

The Governor was apparently a very good student and really enjoyed his experience. He invited his instructors and one very lucky guy with a flexible work schedule (Markus) and their significant others for a "relaxed" (maybe the Gov and First Lady were, I'm not sure we were) dinner at their house. Which is good because Paul wore shorts and flipflops (new flipflops but still).

We were given a tour of the house which was very much like being shown around the White House or something, but the American Samoan version of the White House. The house was recently restored as there had been massive rotting issues. It sounds like it was a down to the studs rebuild and that the Governor was very involved.

We were shown all the Governor's fun collections of rocks, drift wood, art, books, memorabilia and silly gifts from friends. He's apparently a man of many talents, having paid for his law schooling as a traveling Fire Knife Dancer. He was also a free diver in his youth which most certainly made his diving experience easier.

I was a bit taken aback when I got Markus' phone call that we were dining with the Governor. I would usually be planning for something like this days in advance. Of course, I had few clean clothes and I was cursing myself for still not having gotten a puletasi (formal women's dress). I have a bunch of nice respectable dresses but darn if they don't show shoulder (how risque I know!). But I pulled myself together and I had a fun time.

The Governor and First Lady were gracious hosts and Markus and the guys were given a signed book on Samoa.

This is something that NEVER would have happened to me in the states. Definitely one for the blog.

Here is the official press release on the Governor learning to dive.

Turkey Umu

2007-12-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

What's an Umu you ask?
Well, it a traditional Samoan oven. It's made by heating river rocks and piling your food under them and then steaming everything under banana leaves. We've never done an umu before and having enjoyed the Roth's Easter Turkey Umu immensely, I decided to do a Turkey Umu for Thanksgiving. The following is a how not to and how to do, an umu (say that 5 times fast!)

Me in my best Martha Stewart pose! "No really, it was no work at all!" Ha.

How Not to Do An Umu
1. Invite lots of people to your house on a major holiday on a tropical island where it rains A LOT and not have a covered outdoor area to make the umu.
2. Leave the carefully gathered river rocks (apparently lava rocks explode when heated-something that would have become glaringly apparent after I had started my umu, if I had not been forwarned) outside while the heavens drench them over several days. These rocks actually cracked and exploded too as it was their first use and they weren't seasoned.
3. Decide the best place to have the umu, is not right out in the open where the rain can come and douse the fire, but snug up against a rock wall under the shelter of a palm tree. Sounded good to me . . . apparently not the best place.
4. Watch as your FH (future husband for those of you not hip to bridal blogging abbreviations) digs a big pit and (very nicely I should say) lines the pit with the river rock all of his own invention! A very bad idea indeed we were to find out. Einstein looks a little concerned. "Don't these guys know how to build an umu?! I'll never get any turkey leftovers at this rate!"
5. Don't buy wood well in advance. Depend on "picking up some crates or something" the day of the big meal, they will undoubtedly be soaked with the previous monsoonal rains the day before. Your dear friends will have to pay with the shirt off their white palagi backs to buy you semi-dry wood on a rainy, Thanksgiving day. Thanks Jay!
6. Don't have a large pile of coconut husks as firestarter for the fire. "WHAT! Nobody told me I needed coconut husks!" Something that is done over a long period of time, whilst enjoying said coconuts prior to them becoming husks.

How to Make an Umu
1. Allow your Samoan friend to come over to help you even though you are COMPLETELY sure you will have things under control.
2. Have an open area (duh, there's lots of smoke with the umu, as if I didn't notice the multitudes of plumes of smoke all over the island on Sundays) to make your umu (covered is preferred but if your Samoan friend brings dry weather with her, then you are good to go).
3. Have a flat board or corrugated tin for the bottom of your umu.
4. Hack a banana tree up into logs and create a square around the umu area.
5. Lay out your wet rocks to dry in the sun (not piled up in an aesthetically pleasing, yet pathetic, display of pride of ownership)
6. Make one layer of rocks in your square.
7. Build a fire with your hoards of coconut husks, kindling and dry wood you've had stored for just this occasion. (Or pull out the charcoal if you didn't do the above and pretend that this is the right way to make a fire-geesh, coconut husks-I'm so sure!) Do you think Fua is asking god what she was thinking offering to help these palagis?

8. Stack your wood in a log cabin style over the base layer of rocks.

9. Pile your now sun dried rocks all over the wood.
10. Let those puppies burn, baby! Your wood will burn down and you'll be left with piping hot rocks. Which you will knock around your umu area until you get to your base layer of rocks. (Pray it doesn't rain at this point and turn your fire into a smoldering heap)

11. Put your food on the Umu. Usually you will have way more food in the umu than we did (I just wanted to do the turkeys and have the rest of the food be US Traditional as we get Samoan traditional all the time) Fua asked me several times if that was all we were putting in. I'm not sure she felt all her hard work was being put to good use.
12. Pile all those hot rocks on top of your food (the food is usually whole foods that have peals you can remove, things wrapped in banana leaves or in tin foil). Big things like pigs and our turkeys often have a rock placed inside to ensure it cooks well.
13. Pile the masses of banana leaves you've collected that day-thus improving your view-over the food.

14. Don't question your Samoan friend when she covers the whole thing with a plastic tarp. Especially when she is walking around with her rock poking stick that she cut down and sharpened herself with a machete.

15. Sit back and wipe your sweaty brow for 2 hours.

16. Uncover it all.

17. Eat and impress your friends who all tell you the turkey is the best they've ever had.

We had a great feast. We had a ton of people in our house, about 15 adults and a slew of children (too many to count).

As entertainment Matt backed off our driveway and provided the men folk with an opportunity to chin scratch, walk around lookin' at things and then attempt a variety of engineering feats, to have Markus throw on the tow rope and have my wonderful Subby pull the car out! Yeah, Subby!

There was also a fair amount of ruthless Apples to Apples and some cut throat Badminton played that day. Markus broke out his home brew and we ate a lot. Melanie even made pumpkin pie! I think the Turkey Umu will now be an annual event, as I can only imagine doing all that work once a year.

If You Aren't Pissed . . .

2007-12-01T15:06:00.001-08:00

Then You Aren't Paying Attention

Here's a little political soapboxing for you. Something I rarely do, but right now, having watched this movie. I have to say I am pissed.

I would like every single one of you out there to stop reading my blog and run out and rent this movie, or at least put in your Netflix que. If you are in AmSam it's available at both Video Plazas.

No really stop reading my blog! Go watch No End in Sight! And then go to their website and read some more.
I feel this movie is not just some liberal propaganda movie about the war. We are talking major figures (Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Barbara Bodine (in charge of Baghdad during the Spring of 2003), Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner (in charge of the occupation of Iraq through May 2003), speaking for themselves and discussing the horrible planning for postwar Iraq and why we are STILL THERE and why as the movies says, there is no end in sight. A masterful work, really. Please check it out. Not about "not supporting our Troops" but about supporting them by getting them out of a situation that a bunch of ignoramuses got them into. Or at least understanding why they are still there.

And what, you might ask, does this have to do with American Samoa?
I'll tell you what . . .

American Samoa has the most military casualties per capita (this is a calculation to make a small place like AmSam-57663 compare with a big place like Cali-36 million) The actual number is 5 (as of the source on StateMaster which is 2006 data-it's higher now, they just buried another soldier last week) but in a place with a 50,000 population it's too many.

And though the U.S. Nationals in American Samoa can not even vote to get the Chimp out of office, they sign up in large numbers to defend us.
American Samoa is 6th per capita in recruits of all military forces.

I'm not even sure I can say U.S. out of Iraq anymore after this movie, as we created such a mess, we need to stay and clean it up-if indeed it's possible. I just wish so many lives weren't at stake to clean up the avoidable (and that's what really hurts) mess our awful "leaders" created.

If you can't spot the fish at the table . . .

2007-12-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

YOU are the fish!

As some of you may or may not know, I own a house in Southern Oregon. This house is in a very nice town and is quietly working hard at earning me equity with which some day I will rule the world (Waaahahahaaa!-"Evil Maniacal Laughter).

When I decided to move to American Samoa I thought it would be a good idea to keep my house as a safety net in case I had to flee the then unknowns of the South Pacific. I rented my house myself feeling like I was doing a descent job of it. That was until a month before I was to move I drove by my house on my way through town. And saw garbage piled high on the side of the house. When I knocked on the door someone who was obviously living there, but whom I had never met before, answered the door. When I told this person he shouldn't be living in my house he started to verbally assault me.

At which point I got in my car and drove to a property manager I knew about. Didn't know personally, just knew about. I signed a contract. Gave her the keys and let her take over. There were a few rough spots with the tenants but I usually got my money on time. And my house didn't go up in flames.

Then they moved out at the end of the lease.

And my house (with a substantial mortgage) sat empty.

Months went by.

I was told the market was tight. Lower the rent. Accept month to month. Oh, and the previous tenants had left a mess, could I send the security deposit to repair? Uh, sure, here's $500 bucks.

Then the communication got less . . . and less . . . until I called my property manager ready to talk some real business.

And got a disconnected message.

And then my stomach did a back flip.

And I went to her website. And saw this.

Then I calmly did some research calling my real estate agent and discovered that what is worse than NOT having a property manager is having a property manger that has a gambling addiction and who is shut down without notice. Then I was no longer calm and cursed and shouted and marched around the house shaking my fist at the heavens.

And then I got back on the phone and made some calls. So now my house is back in the hands of a well referred Property Manger who is licensed and bonded. Something I'd assumed my other manager was, but DUH it turns out she WASN'T. No point in sueing someone with a gambling addiction if they don't have insurance.

Things could have been worse, though, as I hear that other owners are completely out security and last month rent deposits-which I had personally held because I had initiated the contract with my first tenants.

Of course I did get a call from my new manager telling me that apparently,the money I had sent to do repairs and clean had not been properly put to use. I suspect it's sitting in the coffers of Seven Feathers Casino a favorite of Southern Oregon gamblers. (I think I can just make out my property manager in the back of the photo on the right . . .)

This was a hard lesson to learn as I could have paid for my wedding with the lost rental income, but at least my house isn't burnt to the ground or a meth warehouse (which is a sadly real possibility in a county with a city that commonly is known as Methford).

If anybody is looking for a nice 3 bd, 1 1/2 bath in lovely Ashland Oregon let me know . . . .