The title of this blog is a book written by W. Somerset Maugham, who began traveling to the Pacific Islands in 1917. And it is very applicable today, since it has been raining since I ate breakfast this morning and hasn’t stopped for almost 4 hours. Usually when it rains here, it’ll pour for a good 5-10 minutes, then just rain less heavily a little bit longer, then stop for awhile before beginning again. But it seems rare that it rains this much for this long, at least as far as I have observed. So for those of you who think that I am laying on sunny beaches every day and getting super tan, you are wrong. On the week days I walk to school (where I work on my farmer’s tan), stay inside all day, then go home. On the weekends, I play hostess to my friend Julie who visits from the island of Anu’u, get errands done, relax a bit, maybe catch a movie, and procrastinate on grading until Sunday evening. When it wasn’t so rainy I’d go kayaking or to the beach with friends, but the last couple weeks that has not been possible. Welcome to the rainy season in American Samoa! If it wasn’t so warm and there weren’t so many tropical trees, I’d think I was back in the Northwest….
“Frontier Weddings”
Last week, my U.S. history classes were given the task of giving a presentation on Settling the West. One of the topics (taken from a little side story in the textbook) was Frontier Weddings. My 6th period class is filled with 12 rowdy junior boys, 3 of whom play football, and one girl. They were split into groups to do the presentation and given about a week, with some class time to work on it. Of course most of them procrastinated and did not get anything done. Come Friday, the Frontier Weddings group did not have their poster ready but did not want to lose 25% by waiting until Monday to present. However, they had to have some sort of visual. So they decided to throw together a little skit and after giving the information, acted out a “Frontier Wedding”. Since it was Friday, and the last class of the day, I let them run with it.
The Groom was a football player who refers to himself as HBK (Heart Break Kid). The bride was also a football player, and easily one of my largest students. Their third group member was helping to narrate the story. The pastor was yet another football player who often leads the prayer in the mornings during my first period class. (Yes, first period. His own 6th period class had been having a sub all week and weren’t doing anything. So I let him come in to help them with their skit). Now, all of these boys have already found themselves a very special place in my heart. However, they still drive me nuts on a daily basis. The “wedding” that ensued was by far the funniest thing I have seen in the classroom since I’ve arrived here. The bride had tied his football jersey over his head and was letting out high-pitched girlish giggles throughout the ceremony. And although this was a “frontier” wedding, set in the American West, much of it was conducted in Samoan. After the happy couple was pronounced man and wife, they hugged and the rest of the class cheered. Then the “pastor” made a comment in Samoan and the only word I caught was “virginity”. All the students turned to look at me, to see what my reaction would be, and I had to put my clipboard in front of my face because I was laughing. All in all, a very entertaining class.
“Friday Night Lights”
Speaking of my football playing students, the Nu’uuli Voc-Tech Wildcats have surpassed the odds and made it to the playoffs! Last night we beat Samoana High School 24-0. We still have one game left next week, which is also our senior night, and playoffs are Thanksgiving weekend. My cheerleaders are still doing well, and learning 2 new cheers each week to add to their repertoire. Since we won, and have senior night coming up, there will undoubtedly be an assembly or pep rally of some kind this coming week. Of course, since this is Samoa, we likely will not know anything about it until the day of. If we’re lucky, the day before. But that’s just how it goes here. The last couple games have been a bit surreal. There I was sitting at a football game at 7:00 on a Friday night in November. And it was still warm enough to wear just a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops (or slippers, as they are called here). It was a bit strange since I usually associate football games with cold temperatures, mittens and two pairs of socks.
I know I have been a bit horrible about keeping this updated. The week days are always filled with work to do, and the weekends are never long enough. Also, my internet situation is not the most reliable at the moment. We currently do not have internet at our house, but can access it at school (though not facebook). Some days (like today) I am able to go to McDonald’s and use the free wireless. It’s inconvenient, and frustrating at times, but it also forces me to focus on other things, instead of just wasting the day away mindlessly surfing the web.
Speaking of Surfing…..Christmas in Hawaii will be here soon!! I can’t wait!!!
That’s all for now folks……stay tuned! And keep in touch! Leave a comment or write to me. My email is miss.mills.amanda@gmail .com
Manuia le aso!
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