Saturday Morning Sunshine!

My title refers to high school football in American Samoa. In the states we say "Friday Night Lights," but our first game was on a Saturday morning with sunshine as our lights. :)

SCHOOL LIFE

I am in my third week of teaching at Faga’itua High School. My freshman class just left, so I am oh so grateful for a little peace and quiet!!! They have a lot of energy. A lot is an understatement. Going from a VERY structured place like Boys Town to a place with a group of kids who always seem to be off task and not following instructions can be rough at times. They are great kids, and I already like them a lot; however, they have to be told the same thing about 30 times before they actually implement the instruction correctly. They are all very smart but struggle with writing and reading comprehension. They can speak English pretty well but can’t understand or write it really well. I have the proficient group of freshmen and the proficient seniors, all of them. The school divides each class (freshmen, sophomore..) into proficient (more advanced) and mainstream (not as advanced). I see A LOT of potential in my students. If they have some guidance and resources and most of all, DESIRE and PERSEVERANCE then I know that they can accomplish a lot. That part doesn’t seem to change too much no matter where in this world you go. My seniors are much more relaxed than my freshmen. I like both the seniors and freshman but am very grateful that I don’t have all freshmen classes because I would be overwhelmed!

One of my classroom rules is that they can only speak English in the classroom. I was hesitant to do this at first because I really didn’t want to seem like the palagi (white person) invading their school and not wanting to understand their culture but just impose my culture and language on them. Then I talked to another English teacher here who is Samoan, and she said that she tried to go to college in California and really struggled her first year because she was used to things being explained in Samoan and being able to communicate to others in Samoan. It was very hard for her when almost no one else at the college she was attending in California spoke her language. She also has a rule that only English can be spoken in her classroom because she doesn’t want her kids to go to college and struggle like she did because they were not exposed to English enough. English is supposed to be what all teachers use for instruction, but that is not what always happens. The reality is that these kids have to take the SAT or ACT in English and then compete to get into college with a lot of native English speakers. There is one community college here, American Samoa Community College (ASCC), but there is no four-year university. Therefore, I need to prepare them for a competitive English-speaking job market, and it will not help them if they can only comprehend or communicate in Samoan. I explained this to my class when I went over the classroom rules. Plus, we would get nowhere if I am not able to understand them. I do hope that they never lose their beautiful language either, though. It is definitely not at risk of extinction now by any means. I think they are very lucky to be bilingual. I know it is hard for them but hopefully someday they will see the beauty in it. Yesterday I spent part of my prep/sub period learning Samoan from a group of students! I have a long way to go, but it was wonderful that they were so willing to teach me.

This picture is from our first assembly (pep rally) Apparently last year Tafuna stoned Faga'itua after they lost, so that is what the $2,000 car damage fee is. We didn't beat Tafuna this time, unfortunately, but we will meet them again!

"V" for Viking!!! (Or peace?) :)

That brings me to my next topic: prep (sub) periods. I have two prep periods, and I truly cherish them! I realize that I am very lucky to have two preps; however, many of my prep periods have been spent subbing for other teachers. There is no pool of substitute teachers to go to if someone calls in sick or is gone. Two of the six (that includes me) English teachers here at the high school were gone pretty much the entire first week and one is still gone, so it is up to us to take her students in and either “babysit” them (as it was described to me) or try to fill their minds with something useful. I have done things from geography trivia games (which they loved) to re-teaching lessons I have prepared for my classes to discussing the languages I know and trying to learn Samoan from them. The first week I even had a lot of an American Samoan History Teacher’s students in my classroom during my prep period, so I not only sub for other English teachers but any teacher at times. I am hoping that as the year goes on there won’t be as many teachers missing, but I know that I will still have to sub and am trying to get lessons and activities together. It kind of shocks me that the students even show up to my class when their teacher is gone. Maybe they are just scared of getting caught not in class, but technically they don’t have a class to go to! Nor do I have the roster for their class, so there would be no way for me to know if a student skipped or not. Nonetheless, they show up at my door because their teacher is gone, and I try to do my best with them.

The BOYS volleyball team!!! The jerseys were donated by Troy Polamalu (the Samoan football player who has a ton of hair and plays for the Steelers). Whooooo!!! 

Next topic: Corporal Punishment. This is what my Teacher Manual says: “Corporal punishment is defined as striking a student with the hand or some object. Corporal punishment may be administered only by the principal or vice principal in the presence of another adult.” American Samoa is part of the US, where corporal punishment is illegal, yet the schools here allow it. During orientation I asked a question to our Samoan instructor about consequences I should have for a student who doesn’t turn in his homework. Her advice was to just smack the student on the head. I have been told that I can hit students if they are misbehaving. People tell me that the student’s parents would fully support it and it is a fine way to discipline. I have also heard of students saying that it is the only way they will behave. They expect it I guess.  I don’t want to offend the culture at all so I won’t make this a big debate and include my opinion, but I will never physically discipline one of my students. I just can’t do it.

2012 Faga'itua football team!

They wear their jerseys just like in the states but with their lava lavas (what we would call skirts), which you would not see in the states. I'm already used to it, though. I like them! 

Next topic: Separation of Church and State. That does not exist here. Every morning my class starts the day with a hymn and prayer. At first I had no idea what was going on. I heard the class next to mine singing and asked my students if they knew what was happening. I had freshmen that morning, and they just told me they were saying prayer. I asked if I was supposed to do it and they were too shy to explain it to me. The next time I had a morning class I had a girl just get up and start the song and prayer, so since then I have asked someone to volunteer to lead it or they just start it on their own. I have no idea what they are saying during the song, but it is a peaceful start to the morning! The prayer they usually say is just the Lord’s Prayer. Sometimes it is in Samoan and sometimes it is in English. If they do it in English then I join them. Religion is a very strong part of Samoan culture. I don’t know the statistics, but most of them are Christians. There are Methodists, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Catholics, etc.… sorry; I can’t remember all the different ones.

Football is a religion here.

When I walk to school I see people showering and brushing their teeth… omg that sounds crazy. Let me explain. I don’t see everything, thank goodness, but a lot of times showers are kind of just out in the open and covered with something like a tarp. Everything here is pretty open. For example, my neighbor has no door to his house… some houses you can see right through from one end to the other. A traditional house is a fale. It is completely open with pillars and a roof. Most people’s houses now are much more enclosed than that, but it is not at all like the US where we are very private and to ourselves. Think of it as living in a porch, not an enclosed house. The reason I brought this up is because I always have to remember this when my students are constantly barging into my room!!!!! AHHHH! It is the most frustrating thing for me so far. No one here knocks!!! If they do, I KNOW it is a teacher and will answer it. The kids are very loud and rowdy in the halls and will try to open any and every door for no apparent reason! During class I have random kids open my door and look in then walk away. GRRRRRR!!! Lol I just have to keep telling myself that at least part of it is cultural and not just rude or disrespectful. Even before and after school kids are just barging into my room and do not care at all about my privacy or the fact that I might have a class going on or be trying to get some work done. Sometimes I don’t mind if they come in and relax, especially when they are being respectful and not suspicious, but sometimes I really need that time to prepare and they don’t get the hint, so I have to ask them to leave. Okay… that was my vent for the day. Thank you for bearing with me. And thank goodness for locks!! :)

The cheerleaders!

Every student here receives free lunch. They are all eligible for free lunch from the way I understand it. Teachers even get free lunch if there is enough left over after all the kids eat!! I am SO appreciative of this!!! I still haven’t received any sort of stipend yet as a volunteer, so I am most definitely living on a tight budget. We have been here over a month but don’t get our first stipend until August 31^st. Being a teacher I have to buy certain things for my classroom (dry erase markers, batteries for the computers, paper, etc.) but don’t even have a stipend yet to help me out with those things. It can be a real challenge. I told some other teachers at Faga’itua and also explained to my freshman class that I am a volunteer and do not get paid for teaching. They all were VERY shocked. Most of them know what a WorldTeacher is but do not understand that we don’t get paid by the DOE (Department of Education) like all the other teachers here do. I have to think of it in a positive way, though! I am receiving a wonderful experience and getting the opportunity to live in a new culture and help others while not expecting anything in return. Plus, I think good things come to those who deserve it and whoever the higher power looking out for me is will never give me more than I can handle and will provide for me when I really need it.

Even in paradise there are rainy days. That is a TRUE sand volleyball court, though! Someday I will go back to this beach and play!

The pig at our staff party. It was gone in minutes! GONE.

My plate of food at the staff party! Yum! There was a lot of meat. The thing in the back right had shrimp, and I really liked it. The bananas are boiled and taste more like potatoes.

Final school topic: Time management. The bell is rung manually. The secretary’s assistant or a student just goes out and hits a big metal thing with some sort of hammer. I find it amusing. The other day I was walking to school and Ellery, a student of mine, warned me to cover my ears because he was about to ring the breakfast bell. :) This also means that sometimes the bell rings early and sometimes it rings 10-15 minutes late. Using appropriate time management for lessons and recording tardies can be a challenge because of this. The biggest thing I have learned so far, though, is to just GO with the FLOW and LEARN from my mistakes – trial and error! I can’t tell you how many times I have tried something both at school and just in everyday Samoan life and failed and found a better way to do it the next time. My sink at homes leaks. I tried to fix it by putting a cup under it. The cup was not sturdy enough, so I positioned it in a different way and emptied it more often, and Voilà! It is working for now. I turned of the lights to quiet my students down but that was something new to them so it made them louder because then they all pleaded that I leave the lights off for the rest of class. So now I just stop talking when they are being too loud. Then they get the hint. If at first you don’t succeed, try again!

More of the first football game! Tafuna Warriors vs. Faga'itua Vikings! (Walnut vs. AHST? jk... we are one now, huh?) Everyone on island plays at this one stadium in Tafuna. It is nice! It costs $3 to get in. The JV tied 20 to 20, and the Varsity lost 44 to 13. We showed much more character than Tafuna did, though. They had a lot of personal fouls! No one got stoned thankfully!!!

Two of my students out there as captains!

I lied. There is one more thing I wanted to include about the school. It is haunted. I can’t say I believe in ghosts or things of that nature, but pretty much the entire village very much believes that the school is haunted. People kept getting upset with me because I was staying so late at the school to work, and part of the reason why they were upset with me is because they truly believe that it is unsafe for me (a female) to stay here alone late due to the ghosts/spirits. They say that someone died here, so now girls need to wear their hair up and should not wear a certain red flower behind their ear. Girls apparently get slapped by these ghosts or injured if they make them mad, and there is a janitor who can cure them if this happens. It sounds so crazy, I know, but they truly believe in it. Apparently an entire staircase has even been blocked off because of the ghosts. This is the only two story building in Faga’itua (population about 150 by the way), and I have heard many times that this town is very “sa” or sacred/forbidden. Believe whatever you’d like. I just wanted to share this. :)

The final thing I wanted to include in this blog post is just a little bit about the fa’afafine culture. Fa’afafines can be viewed as a third gender specific to Samoan culture. They are men who see themselves as women and dress and act like women. The word translates to mean “the way of a woman.” It is a very hard thing for me (an outsider) to explain to you (another outsider). Fa’afafines know what they are and can explain it much better, yet you would not understand it any better coming from them, trust me. I don’t want to offend anyone or say anything incorrectly, so please forgive any ignorance I may have concerning this subject and just realize that this is my own interpretation. To me, they are transgender. They remind me of what we would call drag queens. They do not undergo any sex changes, though. It is generally men who appear as women. There are some lesbians here too of course, but a fa’afafine usually just means a transgender male, and there is not really a place in this society for lesbians for some reason. The fa’afafine culture seems to be a pretty beautiful thing to me, though. They will tell you that they are not gay because they aren’t. They are women. They do not date gay men. They are women who date men. It is that simple. Get it? :) We had some beautiful fa’afafines come talk to us and were very open to questions and very comfortable with themselves. I was still a bit confused. However, I neither feel like I need to understand it completely nor will I ever completely understand it because I can never actually put myself in their shoes to know what it is. The issues I have seen with it are that whether you are a gay male or not, to be accepted by others who are like you, you have to dress and act like a women. I think? So maybe you are gay but happy with your appearance, yet in Samoan fa’afafine culture you would probably feel very pressured to wear a lot of make-up, jewelry, and high heels… maybe. I have seen some fa’afafines who look masculine but just wear heels sometimes though!? They seem to be pretty accepting of everyone I think. There are definitely still people against this way of life and who make demeaning comments about them, but I think this gay culture is MUCH more accepted here than it is in the US. I have a very masculine football player in one of my classes, and I also have a fa’afafine. The fa’afafine was joking around with the football player and kind of hitting on him. The football player didn’t get mad or act too good for the other student or anything like that. I am very certain he is straight, but he simply explained to me that she (they are called “she’s”) likes him and just laughed about it, not making a big deal about it at all and just moving on. Isn’t that wonderful???!?!?!! I know I don’t understand a lot of things, but from what I observed I like how they tolerated each other’s differences.

Another lei I got. They have casual Fridays, so that is why I am in jeans. :)

Okay, that is all I have for now. There is so much more about the culture that I would love to share: family life, tattoos, long hair, food, dress, etc. etc., but I am sure I will get to that in other posts. Thanks for reading. :) I hope you have a beautiful day!!!

Samoan phrase: Ou te alofa ia te oe. = I love you! :) It was a phrase my students taught me the other day. They also taught me how to say I hate you (Igoigo ia o a’u ia oe). Lol incase you ever need to tell someone that you love them or hate them in Samoan. ;)  

I am also going to include my address on this blog. It is:

Jessica Ploen

P.O. Box 2596

Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799

A lot of the volunteers went in together and paid for a PO box. My landlord first said we could use hers, but she hasn't given me any of my mail yet, so I am not going to be able to rely on her. If you get a sudden urge to send something to American Samoa, you should include tape, markers, dry erase markers, and AA batteries!!! I think I am in the best school on island, but we still don't have a lot of resources. Even copy paper can be hard to get at times. I think teachers everywhere spend a lot of money on supplies... I wish there was more money in education to pay for those things. I would LOVE some craft supplies, and I can already tell I am going to be spending a lot of money on dry erase markers and batteries for the computers. My department head told me that the school won't provide those things. I may have to ask the kids to donate, though, because I don't know how much of my stipend will cover school supplies. I should be grateful that I have books at least!!