My life... in a coconut shell.

This is my Samoan life in a coconut shell. It includes almost everything: the lelei, the aulelei, and the auleaga. (The good, the beautiful, and the ugly) :) A long time ago I started writing a piece entitled, "A Day in the Life..." but never actually posted it. I may post it later even though it is pretty out-of-date, but for now I think the pictures I have gathered can speak for themselves. I will explain as I go along. I haven't been the best about keeping up with my blog, and I apologize. This should be a pretty accurate description of my life here in Samoa, though! I really hope you take some time to look at this post! Please enjoy... :)

This is what I do many nights... sit at this table and grade papers, eat food, kill ants that try to eat my food, plan my next lesson, take pictures on my computer... :)

My family sent my a teddy bear!!! I love it. Life on the east side in a village of about 200ish people and no car can be very lonely at times, so I am glad to have a teddy bear. I think my next option is to steal a cute, little Samoan baby that will keep me company. I definitely do not see that happening, though. :)

I love collecting seashells. I use them as decoration, to hold my earrings and bobby pins, as gifts, etc. They are lovely. I have seen them used as ashtrays as well. The one closest has sea glass in it, and the other one has these really great smelling flowers that I usually pick up on my jog. They smell HEAVENLY!

My Grandma Aletha was a wonderful gardener. I cannot say I am a good gardener, but I really do love and appreciate flowers. I can thank my grandma for that. You will see plenty of flower pictures in this blog.

I found this while snorkeling one day. I do not know what it is... some odd-shaped creature in the ocean. :)

My lovely freshmen... :) Ohhhhh.... they can be a handful, but they just gotta make you smile too... :)

This is my favorite puletasi!!! I do like them a lot, but I do not wear them often for multiple reasons. 1.) It is very hard for me to walk in them. I walk too fast, typical American. 2.) They can be SO HOTTTT! SO STINKIN HOT!!! I feel like I am wearing a full-body leather suit and walking into a sauna when I wear them somedays. 3.) I am not a big fan of being the center of attention, and when I wear a puletasi to school I definitely become the center of attention. Everyone is very complimentary and kind, and it is lovely.... but it is a lot of attention for someone who already sticks out a lot.

This is when Cyclone Evan was approaching. We missed two days of school during this warning. Most people boarded up their houses, took extra rainwater inside, and listened to their radios. The cyclone hit Western Samoa pretty hard but didn't hut American Samoa. Instead it went back to Western and hit it twice. Since living here we have had two cyclone warnings and one tsunami warning I believe. Nothing big has happened, though, and I would like to keep it that way. :)

This house wasn't damaged. It is just abandoned. There are a lot of abandoned houses in my village. They look pretty sad. There are three abandoned houses right near my home. My neighbors say that the families of those houses moved to California and don't come back much, if ever, to take care of the house. 

boarded up house -also, most of the graves here are in the front yard.

Walking home waiting for Cyclone Evan.

I took pictures of roadkill... lol. I definitely have seen very different roadkill than I am used to. This is a crab. Snails, TONS OF FROGS, and crabs are common. Stray dogs are also a possibility.

My walk to school............ it is oh so familiar and normal to me now...

Snails like to sit RIGHT outside of our door, and I didn't see this one..... oops.. :-/

Omg if got a quarter for every smashed frog I had to walk by, I would be a MILLIONAIRE!!! There is definitely an over-population of frogs on island.

more of my walk to school... the neighbors are all SO friendly and greet me every morning... <3

Tasty food from friends!! That purple thing is a sweet potato. It was WONDERFUL. The corn was given to me because he knew that I was from Iowa... :) It was good! I boiled those bananas and then took off the skin to eat them. That is how a lot of the bananas are consumed here. They aren't all the typical bananas you are used to.

Sooooooooooooooooooo pretty!!!!!! Someone make me a dress like this, please?!?!?!!!! :)

Rugby game near Kokoland in Tafuna, American Samoa

At first they scared me, then I hated and despised them, and now I mostly just feel sorry for them.......

Catholic church

This is called a star mound. It is an ancient mound used by the Matai chiefs during the sport of pigeon hunting. There are a lot of them on the island, but this is the first one we were actually able to find.

Wonderful friends at the star mound! Even when I go somewhere just to do normal everyday activities (run errands) I find ADVENTURE. It makes me very happy. :)

Are we Samoan or are we American??? When I asked my freshmen this last week they all said Samoan...... but then they started to think of exceptions to that... It is an odd dynamic.

WONDERFUL Christmas cards and gifts sent from home. I cannot thank everyone who keeps in touch with me and sends me things enough. It really warms my heart and always comes at the perfect time!!!!!! THANK YOUUUUU!!! <3

This would be in the Auleaga (ugly) category. These are the bathrooms at my school. They are not nice. They smell pretty bad, are INFESTED with mosquitos, and definitely not sanitary. But they do work. It just doesn't make sense that the school has 106 iPads and then THIS for bathroom facilities...

I think two of the stalls have doors but the rest don't. I usually have to bring my own toilet paper, but this stall did have some. The mosquitos in there are so bad....

This is during low-tide. There is nothing wrong or bad about to happen. Sometimes the water levels are just very low (depending on the moon and gravity), and then it doesn't quite look like the perfect tropical paradise anymore. I have learned so much about the ocean that I didn't know before. I guess I didn't need to know it living in Iowa, but it is important to understand and respect the ocean living here. You wouldn't want to plan a swim at low tide, but at high tide it'll be niiiice! :)

My front yard 

My back yard :)   (kinda sort)

After a long week of teaching this is what I did on Friday at 5:00 pm. You know how sometimes you are really stressed and IMAGINE being on a tropical beach with the wind in your hair and the sun on your face? I don't have to imagine. :)

They added a Sailele bus!!!! This means there is one more bus going to the eastside, which improves my chances of getting home... I think... as long as all the Tula buses are still running.

Mr. Snail sitting outside our front door and the rainwater barrel that I put together in the background. I am pretty proud of it!!! It is SOOOOO much easier than boiling water, and it tastes a lot better!!!

Going for a hike in Tula... I love people, but I do a lot of things on my own here. I don't mind it, though. I meet more Samoans that way!! If they see a group of white people they leave us alone (Samoans are quite shy), but if they see just me they are more likely to want to chat! :)

The weapons I took with me on my walk incase stray dogs came after me. One of my students saw me this day and helped me get that stick because she was worried about me. :) I did have to use it. I just used it as a threat, though. I didn't actually have to hit a dog. I raised it in the air and yelled, "HALU!!!!!" and the pack of five stray dogs backed off. 

Beauty

yayyy for self-timers! :)

Tula!

The water is so clear.

This is the grave of a former senator.

This was my view as I waited at the bus stop. :)

Waiting at the bus stop. lol :)

I WENT SWIMMING WITH A STING RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then I got scared and got out of the water and enjoyed a few glasses of sangria with some lovely neighbors.

Most of my time is spent teaching, but I probably have the fewest pictures of it.....

I  love maps. My freshmen have been studying themes and reading stories about the civil wars in Ireland and Korea. I just happened to have two of those maps with me!!!! I should probably be teaching geography instead of English, but I can connect the two pretty easily!

There is a pizza place near my village, and it is tasty!!! A couple who lived in San Francisco for awhile came back to take care of their parents and their land/buildings and started this restaurant. It's not even a year old, but if you ever happen to be on the east side of Tutuila, you should go here!!! :)

yummmmm

AMAZING gifts from home (TRADER JOE'S FOOD!)....  I am so blessed.. <3

I love drawing turtles in the sand. :) I see sea turtles in my front yard often. They never come out of the water, but I can see their heads pop up and their shells. One of my kids said that the turtle represents peace in their culture. Perfect! :)

This is in Sailele. I recently went there with two other volunteers. It was so nice!!! It is perhaps my favorite village on the island! I think I am developing Samoan feet too! I was able to climb on the hot, sharp rock to the right with no shoes this time!!!

This is the church I go to. It must have been Iowa State Cyclone day! haha the colors and flowers at the front are different each Sunday. It is all in Samoan, so I understand very little. I still enjoy going, though. I read my Bible in English or read another book during the service and listen to the choir. Every once in awhile a little child rolls under the pew and sits by me too. :)

This is Faith. She started out at the far end of the pew then slowly inched her way toward me. By the end of the service she was styling my hair and trying to steal my purse. :) She's onery but ADORABLE. :)

Not sure picture-taking is appropriate in church, but whatever... ;)

She took pictures of everything until I hid the camera. :)

Faith wanted a picture of my super high-tech, state-of-the-art cell phone!!! ;) It gets the job done. Most days.

UGHHHHH Mogamoga!!!! ughhhhhh Cockroach!!! They are my enemies. I kid you not, last Friday I woke up, washed my face, started to dry off my face, and a big cockroach jumped from the towel ONTO MY FACE!!!! "Good morning, Jessica!!!" I don't think I even screamed, though. I guess I am getting braver.... 

Isn't that the truth... America, American Samoa, and McDonald's

Breadfruit!

Whitey... aka devil dog...

One of the hardest things about living here without a doubt has been not being able to exercise like I am used to. It is hard to run outside because of the dogs. My village had a basketball hoop, but they took it down. There is one gym on the island, and it is way far away on the west side. So, Jillian Michael's has saved me. I am so grateful for workout videos, but I CANNOT WAIT to go home and go for a nice, relaxing jog with my iPod on and no dogs threatening to eat me. <3

These are my weights. One is heavier than the other, but thankfully Jillian does every move twice, so I just switch the weights up. haha

I'm trying to live with the insects.... it can be hard.

On a hike on the west side!!! This is near Sliding Rock.

The. Frogs. Are. EVERYWHERE.

Diet coke and banana bread = lunch; yum!

I did the whole hike in slippers!!! :)

My "snowman" :)

This was White Sunday at church. Moms are to Mother's Day and Dads are to Father's Day as KIDS are to White Sunday!!!! 

Lunch at Finauga's after church!!!

mmm I do like taro!!! That is the white root in the back left of the picture.

Finauga and the pig's head... :)

I LOVE PAPAYA!!!!! My wonderful neighbors have allowed me to climb the mountain behind my house and get papaya from their plantation a few times. It is so good. I am very grateful.

Flowers at the top of the mountain that I run up pretty often.

The EAST side of Tutuila, aka home...

A beautiful bus stop in Utulei

At the top of Mt. Alava!!!

These are the flowers Raina showed me that smell AMAZING!!!

Meet Tolu. Tolu means "three" in Samoan. Get it? haha He is always hanging around in my room...

A plate of food my neighbors brought to me one night. The thing on the left it breadfruit! I like to make cookie bars for my neighbors to thank them for their kindness. It is just second nature for Samoans to share whatever they have with others... <3 (If you've heard me complain about not getting enough green veggies, though, this is why...) :)

I was being extra Samoan today!! I like this puletasi a lot too. One of my student's parents own a sew shop, and I had it made there!! :) The things in the bag are Samoan pancakes, and in the cup is a hot banana soup. I like them both a lot!

This is the banana soup. I can't spell the name of it. I will try to figure it out.

Fa!!! Bye!!! :)