Island Love: American Heroes in an Unusual Place...

Hello all!! I have been away from home for over two months now. Wow. I am still going strong but missing many aspects about the life I left behind. I just have to remind myself that I am only on this exotic, gorgeous island for one year, so I need to embrace it all! To all of you who are going to be able to experience autumn this year, please enjoy it twice as much: some for you and a lot for me! J

I am going to add pictures from a wonderful day adventure I went on with Jill and Beth (two other volunteers) over Labor Day weekend. We went to Aunu’u, a small island at the east end of Tutuila. It has a quicksand lake, tide pools, sharks, AMAZING rock formations right along the coast, a lake that they say is red but looked normal to me J, many legends and oral traditions, and beautiful clear, blue water filled with dolphins (that I did not see… this time). J One of my students, Sarona, showed us around the island. She and her sister were WONDERFUL tour guides! They know a lot about this amazing little island that they call home and were very kind to take us on a hike around the entire island.

All the high school students who live in Aunu’u go to school all the way in Faga’itua because it is the only high school for the entire east side. There is an elementary school in Aunu’u but no high school. They get up at about 4:00 am and have to get on a boat that will take them to Tutuila, the main island. Then they have to get on a bus to go to Faga’itua. School doesn’t start until 8:30 am, so it is a long trip for them. They are very used to it, though, and don’t think of it as a very big deal at all. I certainly never had to take a boat and then a bus and then walk a little ways to get to school, so it seems like a big deal to me! The boat ride is usually only about 30 minutes, but the bus ride is longer. If the weather is bad and it is raining, then the boats do not run and the students do not get to school.

I am also going to attach some pictures from other mini adventures that I went on to other villages near me. I ran over the mountain in my backyard (on the road) and got a great view of Masufau one day. The next day I went up and over the mountain again but down to the other side toward Mausesa and Sailele. I LOVED Sailele. First of all, for a very short distance, it has the BEST ROAD ON ISLAND! It is such a nice road!! It is like roads back home. When I saw it, I honestly got the urge to just run back and forth along it. I really miss running. This road is out in the middle of nowhere, though. It is ridiculous. I am happy for that village, but I do not understand why it is there and not part of the main road that is used way more frequently and badly needs repaired. I hear that the governor of American Samoa has a house out that way and drives out there for church a lot, so that is why the nice road is way back there. I have no idea, but that is definitely a possibility. Sailele is a tiny village along a gorgeous, sandy beach. I climbed around the rocks in the ocean, felt the waves crash up right next to me, sat on a low palm tree and admired the many beautiful blue shades of the ocean, found some cool shells with a Samoan friend of mine, and sat in the sand just taking it all in. It was so nice. I can’t describe how nice it was. I just kept thinking to myself, “When I am stressed about something and need a mental release, THIS exact place is what I see when I close my eyes and try to relax.” Sailele is paradise. J

HEROES in an Unusual Place

The real reason I was inspired to write this post, though, is because I had a truly moving experience at school on Wednesday. My seniors are reading Beowulf right now. It is an English alliterative epic poem, and Beowulf is the epic HERO! One of the assignments I gave my students was to bring in an object that symbolizes the word “hero” to them. The first question I got was if they could bring in actual weapons such as a guns or swords to class for their hero objects. This was a bit frustrating. I think the student who asked was just trying to be funny and rarely thinks before she speaks. After hearing this, I wasn’t expecting to get the response from the students that I did. By the way, I told the student that she most definitely could not bring actual weapons to school because that is stupid and she would get expelled.

The actual response that I got was overwhelming. Even thinking about it a few days later brings tears to my eyes. I know that it will probably not have the same impact on you because you are so far removed from what I see here, but I will still try to explain it. I asked for a volunteer to go first. I eventually had one brave soul jump up and immediately start presenting. She had a box with her and pulled out a folded American flag and a picture of a family member of hers who served in the U.S. army. She started crying right away. She shared a story about how this family member was her hero because she went off and fought evil so that Americans everywhere can enjoy peace and freedom. She explained that her aunt confronted this evil to make her family proud and to provide for them. At least three-fourths of my students in this class had very similar stories. I remember another tough teenage football player who got up and had a picture of his family and said that his dad serves in the army and is his hero because he does it to provide for his family who has never had much money. His dad sacrifices his life and sacrifices being able to live with his family so that he can take care of his family. This student also started to cry right away but was able to recite a beautiful rap about his mother who is also his hero. I can’t tell you how many students talked about a dad or aunt who they rarely ever see because they are always gone to other parts of the world serving in some branch of the US military. There were also stories about loved ones who lost their lives fighting for their country. I can still see images of some of the objects and the students in front of the class pouring out their hearts and struggling to speak as they described how much these HEROES mean to them. A lot of them said that these heroes are their inspiration and motivation. They want to be better people because of these courageous family members who leave to fight for the US and to provide for them back in American Samoa. Many of my students also have goals of getting into the military and serving after high school.

I knew that a lot of American Samoans went into the military or have goals of getting into the military, yet I never ever expected them to open up like they did. It really gave me a better perspective of what life is like for these kids and their families. As I stood at the back of the classroom with my pen and paper in hand ready to grade my students on whether they met the requirements I gave them for the assignment, I realized that there was much more to the American Samoa way of life that I was completely missing. Things come to us in mysterious ways I suppose, but this is one simple English lesson about heroism that I will never forget. I can’t thank my students enough for sharing what they did with me so that I can become at least a bit less ignorant as an outsider living on this little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I guess the first thing that goes through my mind is the fact that many people back in the states, people who these American Samoans are serving and fighting for, don’t even know that American Samoa exists. I won’t lie, I also knew very little about it before I started looking into coming here, so I am in no place to judge. When I was certain that I was going to do this, though, and told people about it, a lot of them they would say, “Wow, be safe in SOMALIA.” No, SAMOA, AMERICAN SAMOA! There are some other territories that are more familiar to people from the states, but American Samoa is usually not one of those unless perhaps you live on the west coast (Southern Cali especially) or Hawaii or are a big fan of football and know Troy Polamalu. I feel like part of why I am here is so that I can share with YOU more about what these wonderful people are really all about. Many (not all) but MANY of them are very welcoming and kind. They will do ANYTHING for their family, anything. Family is their number one priority. They love food… almost as much as me but not quite. J They are very smart, but Samoan is certainly their first language, not English. The dogs here are nothing like the people. They are awful and annoying. J And, lastly, they are in the USA military fighting for YOU and ME!!! Just know that. They may not have a star on our flag and they may not want one there anyway, but they are proud Americans and even prouder Samoans.

Thanks for reading. Please share any comments you may have. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! Fa Soifua! (Bye, be well!)

Here is your Samoan word of the day: sami = ocean

Jessica Lynn Ploen

The following pictures are of Aunu'u island! This is us leaving Tutuila. The boat ride is only about 30 minutes at the most. It costs $2.00.

Our two wonderful tour guides!! The one in the black shirt is Sarona, a wonderful student of mine!

This is the beginning of the quicksand... all the trees are dead.

Quicksand!! It had just rained, so it is more of a quicksand lake... I am not going to test it out. :)

I LOVE adventures!!! :)

So many sea creatures! :)

HUGE, amazing leaves..

Going through a plantation on our hike

yayyyy! Beth, me , and Jill!

Look at those amazing colors!!!

Just got my shoes in the pic for proof that I was there... :)

crab

A tasty restaurant on the east side!!! It is one of the only restaurants on the east side, but it is GOOD! We ate here after our awesome hike at Aunu'u!

huge burgers at De Tama Lelei! yummm!

These pictures are of my hike over the mountain to Sailele. This is FAGA'ITUA, my home!! It is at the top of the mountain looking down. I run up this mountain for exercise sometimes. It is a short distance but intense because it is steep.

The village of Masausi

Beautiful view ruined by trash... :( I post a bunch of gorgeous pictures, but in reality pollution and trash is definitely a problem here.... I took the picture because I don't just want to post all the paradise pictures. I want to post reality too...