Superbowl Weekend and last week

Okay, so by now everyone knows that my team lost the Super bowl. I must say I was sad to see them lose, but I was stoked that they even made it. Everyone met at a sports bar in town, JT’s also called Hennies. I am surprised at how many other Americans or palagi (meaning white non-Samoans; pronounced paw-long-ee) were there other than PC, the bar was packed. Almost everyone other than me and 2 Fijians behind me were rooting for the Stealers. There was a Samoan on each team. One of the other PCV’s decided he wanted to cheer for the Seahawks too only because they were behind and he likes comebacks. There was also a PCV there, Nella, who is from Pittsburg, so both sides got not even but fairly adequate cheering. Everyone from my group got a blast out of the tee-shirt I had made. They said they were all glad that the Stealers won, but felt sorry for me the Seahawks had lost. Like I said though, I was just stoked my own home team made it. Few of my fellow PCV’s thought that they would make it this far to begin with. Although I would have LOVED to watch the Seahawks play in the game in Seattle, win or lose it would have been a blast to cheer with my home town. I am also glad that all the rivalries that sprung up during the Super bowl are finally over. :) For example, Marques and I had a little rivalry going, all in good fun.

The other day was a fun evening. So, I came over to Apia Friday after school and when I arrived at Holly’s, Bryan (a PCV in our group) called and said that Josh was over too and that we should all go out for a few drinks that evening. Holly and I tried to organize a whole group 75 evening, but not everyone could make it. Holly and I were thinking about heading out around 9ish. There is a young man that lives besides her house named Edi. He is the nephew of the family that lives in the house right behind Holly. He has never really come into the house before and that night, he needed to use the phone and we sat and chatted for awhile. He asked what our plans were for the evening and we mentioned we were going to town to meet up with friends. He suggested that his friend, who drove a cab had the evening off and they were going to head into town themselves, and asked if we wanted to wait and go with them. We agreed and he said that his friend was on his way. An hour later his friend showed up. Holly jokingly asked him if he pushed the cab here. So we started heading to town at the speed of lightning, without seatbelt buckles in the car. Holly and I were holding each others seatbelts for some kind of protection. Then he made a stop so Edi could get his cell phone. Then we drove about 2 miles an hour until we got to a gas station and had to fill up…long story short, we got to the bar about and hour and a half before it closed. It was still a blast. It was defiantly an evening I will never forget, and Holly and I had a few fun, yet a little scared laughs between us. They ended up hanging out with us that evening and we got a ride back with them at the end of the evening.

These last weeks here have just been ugly weather wise. I have heard it is one of the rainiest wet seasons we have had since 1981. There was one cyclone watch midway through January. Then, these last few weeks we have been watching another tropical depression off of the south coast of Samoa, but for awhile now it has just been a massive horrible wind and rain storm coming from the north. I know back home, I have heard the weather has been pretty much the same there too; heavy wind and rains. I wouldn’t mind the rain too much; it is a little like being back home (the rain is cold), but I miss being able to go on bike rides. The ferry boat ride I took in to Apia on Friday was the one of the worst boat rides I have ever been on. The picture of the boat in one of my recent entries is the bigger of our 2 boats. The smaller one is a lot rougher to ride on. That big one you sit upstairs in an enclosed area. So the rocking feels worse, but on the smaller one you are sitting on the deck with the cars and not a lot of protection from wind and rain and the waves come up over the sides. I rode over this weekend on the big one. The boats have been down all last week. The big one even made me sick Friday when I headed over. At one point the boat tipped so far over to one side that the waves came up and hit the window on the upstairs deck. I was pretty sick. It is a good thing the rainy season is really only for a few months. On the boat ride back to Savai’i on Tuesday, it was still pretty rough, but the TV was on and they were playing Scrooge McDuck and Goofy. I was stoked. It took my mind off of the roughness.

I was supposed to have a doctor’s appointment in Apia on Monday, but therein lies one of my most interesting days so far. It had rained all night long that night. I had my appointment at 9am, but I had to be there by 8:30. Holly said the last time she needed to go into Apia and it had been raining all night long it took her a good hour and a half to make it in on a bus ride that usually takes only a half hour at the most. I left the house at 7am and did not get into Apia until 9am. Let me tell you why it took me a good 2 hours to get there. It had rained so much that night that all of Apia was flooded in about a good few feet of water. The traffic became stop and go a long ways away from Apia. At one point I figured it would be faster to just get out of the bus and walk to Apia, but then I would be waist high in water so it wouldn’t be faster. Our bus finally reached Apia and turned down the major intersection. I got out because I didn’t want to go all the way to the bus stop which was at the fish market. The buses were not stopping at the usual stop at the vegetable market. The thought of trudging around in water sitting over the market area isn’t a pleasant one. So I got out and attempted to walk to the PC office. I was walking through knee high water at the very least. A few places it was waist high. The water was murky and so I couldn’t really see where I was stepping or what on. If it was like this the whole way to the office I would have stopped right where I was and try to figure out how to get home. But, the road rises a little before it reaches the water, so it wasn’t that bad of a walk along the road on the beach, Beach Road. I made it into the office and was promptly told that the PC had issued a stay at sight warning for all volunteers. A few of Group 74 was at the office too because they had headed in for a group meeting that was also cancelled for the day. We were told to stay put in the office until one of the office staff could drive us back to our sites. Josh and I were not allowed to head back to Savai’i until further notice. My appointment was obviously cancelled for the day. So I headed back to Holly’s house with a few other volunteers and watched movies and chatted the rest of the evening. Tuesday morning we were called and told that while we were still on watch, the rain had let up so if we wanted to head home and back to school we were allowed to that day. I headed in for the doctors appointment that was yet again cancelled, and will be for awhile since I am back on Savai’i now, picked up my package with the Seahawks tee-shirt in it and headed back home.

Finally looking forward to getting home, I sat down in my house with Bob to chat and fill him in on the latest stories. He told me his newest news that apparently we are coaches. Amosa, my pule (principal) told Bob that he was going to be one of the rugby coaches and I one of the netball coaches. Netball is like basketball only way different. Neither Bob nor I know anything about either sport. I do not think I want to coach. I will have to say something next time they bring it up in front of me.

While I was missing school, my pule supposedly taught my classes for me. I gave him some lecture notes on proper environmental conditions for up keeping computers. I think it will be awhile before I head back to ‘Upolu. I think I mentioned that before, but it is always such a hassle to come over and go back. Especially now that school started, it will be harder. I am starting to really love the women that I work and live with out here. They are funny and love it when you joke with them. There are still days when I really struggle out here, but I am hoping that it will get a little easier once I get used to everything. It was nice coming in and hanging out with Holly for a few days again. She told me I am now a roommate when I come, so I get to do chores like dishes because I know things like which sponge she uses for cleaning depending on what one is doing. I like having a place I can call home on both islands. And it is nice because Holly has a phone, so I can get the occasional call from friends (Thank you Mary, Christi and Miranda!) and chat with my parents.
So, here I am now, back on Savai’i and planning on being here for awhile. We will see how long it lasts until I have to head back. The weather is still pretty bad: windy, rainy, and stormy. We even had a landslide on ‘Upolu out in Apia area around Mototua where some other PCV’s live. So, until I get more settled in school… I will let everyone know how I am doing every now and then, especially if we have a cyclone scare or another weather warning. I can see my daily life calming down a lot since school is starting up. I imagine school and lesson planning will take up most of my time and daily activities. But, I will still try and keep you entertained with fun stories I come across out here.