Manuia tausaga fou

That means Happy New Years.
I hope this update finds everyone well. I hope your New Years was fun. I do not have any pictures yet, because believe it or not, I have not been home yet since my last update. I came out for the holiday and then the country pretty much shuts down for about a week. Things just opened up again today. It's been fun, I am staying with Holly. She is great. We really get along well and she is a riot so she keeps me laughing. I think I might head home early next week. I just wanted to get a break from home for a little while and hang out with some of my group for a week or so. It's amazing, I thought that after being with them for pretty much 24/7, I wouldn't mind a break. But I miss them all! They are like family to me. I am so glad to have Bob right next door, he is a great person and really helpful when I start to turn a little psycho. And Josh and La La are close, and they are really fun too. I feel lucky in that sense. Living out on Savai'i, the nearest volunteer might be a good couple hours away.

So New Years was fun. We went to Lalomanu for the night. Marques put up some good pictures on his blog from that night. Go to his photo albums on the right of his site and see New Years. (Christi, if you want to see me cooking, but not a view of the skirt, click on his visiting savai'i photo link). The night was fun. I really got to know a lot of the other volunteers. We headed back the day of the 1st. A couple of us decided to head back to our training villages for awhile. I headed there too. My parents were at this huge church opening on Savai'i, so it was just my sister, her husband, and my oldest brother Tavita. We had a blast! We tafao (hung out) and all the young adults came over (age of my brother Tavita, 15) and we passed faitala (gossip)... It was fun. You could definatly tell the parents and little brothers were away. Holly, Josh, Mari and I all spent the night there and then headed back into Apia the next day.

It's been fun just hanging out and getting some down time in the city. Yesterday I met up with a lot of other volunteers and we went to a Sports Bar and watched the Rose Bowl. Bryan in our group is from Texas and so a few of us were chearing for them. It was a blast. Once again I deter you to Marques's website for a more detailed description of the day. :) It will be fun to watch the SuperBowl as well. Then I ended up playing a couple of rounds of Texas Hold Em with a few of the guys later that evening. I won a little, lost a little. It was fun.

So I am heading back to Savai'i later in the week. I just wanted to get some time in with a few others in my group and get to know a few of the other volunteers here. There are times I want to go home and times I look around and the people in my group and realize I think of these people like family and couldn't imagine leaving early. I mean, who would keep Bob on his toes, bike with La La and Josh, just act silly with Holly, tease Marques, laugh with Bryan, John and Ryan, an just be friends with those I couldn't imagine leaving behind. For those of you I had mentioned the struggle of wanting to leave, rest assured.