So like I said, I was studying women in parliament in Samoa. There's roughly 48 MPs, and 4 are women. The PM included 3 in his 13 member cabinet... and I wanted to know why (were they just more qualified? is he trying to provide opportunities for women? etc...) I also wanted to talk to him on the subject generally...
I would post more on the controversial things he said, but then I might have to make this blog private.
Me before Samoa: I don't care if it hurts. I wanna have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. Ok, that's Radiohead. But also "me before Samoa". Obviously, a lot has changed... (me in the Market on my last day in Samoa)And here are two stories that caused such change: Story #1: Once when we were teaching at an elementary school in Lotofaga, we first observed the teacher and how he approached the lesson. The teacher was a young guy, maybe 25 years old from New Zealand (and he was single, according to the school principal's announcement to the eleven of us girls). He was teaching english superlatives, and began by saying "the teacher lined the boys from the smallest to the tallest" and then picked out 3 boys and lined them accordingly in front of the classroom. Then he'd have his students repeat "The teacher lined the boys from the smallest to the tallest" "AGAIN" "THE TEACHER LINE(D) THE BOYS FROM THE SMALLEST TO THE TALLEST!"
"Alright then, have a seat" he said, as he scanned the rest of the classroom. Pointing to one small girl, she came up to stand in front of the seated classroom. Then he scanned over another girl, but when she stood up said "no" while gesturing to sit back down. Then glanced at another and raised his eyebrows. She stood and waited. He hesitated and said "yeah, okay." And finally his gaze went straight toward the biggest girl in the room and called her out by name to come up to the front.
He lined them accordingly... "The teacher lined the girls from the finnes to the bickus" The students echoed "The teacher line(d) the girls from the finnes to the bickus!" "AGAIN""THE TEACHER LINE THE GIRLS FROM THE FINNES TO THE BICKUS!" Story #2 When I was leaving my Lotofaga family, I was having a serious conversation with Siavea, the 24 year old that I had gotten closest to. It was just the two of us in the cooking fale with the rest of the family only yards away, and yet it was the most intimate moment we had (as mentioned, there isn't much privacy in Samoa). So we are talking, and he looks me in the eye and says "Mandy, I am really going to miss you. My family, they really like you. You make them laugh. You are always smiling. Your heart, it is good. You are a very kind person." Still staring deep into my eyes... into the depths of my soul... he says to me, " and you eat. A LOT. I mean, you eat EVERYTHING."
Commentary: Going into Samoa, I had read bits and pieces and heard from many people that it was the respectful thing to do to accept anything that was offered to you... ESPECIALLY food. And that the more you eat of the family's food, the more respectful you are. Initially, the way I saw it was that if a guest were to restrain themselves from eating a lot of the host's food, it would almost be saying I don't think you have this kind of money or I refuse to eat what you eat.
Anyway, before I came to Samoa, one of my greatest fears was the thought that I'd put on weight. But after I lived there for a while, I noticed that putting on weight wasn't the end of the world. In fact, I even felt like people liked me more, and would even listen to what I had to say. And that felt good. I got to a point where I even had trouble trying to remember why I was so nervous about putting on weight in the first place. At that point, I thought, how many girls can have this experience... can put on weight and be loved all the more?
But I'm back home. And I am reminded why I was so worried about putting on weight...
As warned, the mail system is very unpredictable in the South Pacific.
"I'm fairly certain that the post office may have tried to use the ponyexpress...which could be a problem because the pacific ocean is a long way for a horse to swim." -a friend who tried to send mail
I received mail from Brian (who I forgot to mention before, and note that my favorite track from the CD was "Vapor" by Soulive), Lisa, Lauren, and a package with a fresh white shirt from my Dad and Step-mom. Again, you guys rule.
But then I had 2 friends who I know sent CDs, but I never received them. But they're still getting kickass souvenirs. Long story short, if you sent me anything and I didn't receive it, I appreciate the thought... so please send me your mailing address so I can give you a study-abroad-blog-party favor!
Out of respect for my parents, I decided to save this news until I got home. Who wants to find out their kid got a tattoo through a blog? Anyway, the rumors are true. That I'm home, and also that I got a tattoo.
Philosophy of the tattoo I realize that it's not exactly culturally acceptable for girls to get tattoos in the States. I mean, it is... but I've known a number of guys who have said they would never date a girl with a tattoo... and a number of employers who would not hire someone with a visible tattoo. Almost as though "pure"/"untampered" skin... is preferred and praised...
Nevertheless (alwaysthemore), mine's out in the open for everyone to judge. And it's even crooked. So not only will the upper-class judge me for branding my "pure" body with something that symbolizes a marginal part of my life, but even the tattoo-elitists will look down on me because it's crooked!
To me, this tattoo does symbolize a part of my life that I don't want marginalized. My experience with the South Pacific was just a small period of my life as far as time goes, but I don't want the things I've learned to become just a part of the "me" I left in Samoa.
I like my tattoo. I like that it's visible. And visibly crooked. And I like telling the story around it.
Samoan Tattoo (Tatau) 411 Polynesians invented the Tattoo. "ta" means to strike something... hence the tapping noise when they give the tattoo. The traditional tattoo is given with razor-thin pieces of a boars tusk that are dipped in ink and then tapped into the skin of the recipient.
There's typically 4-6 people working at a time. In our situation, one person was giving the tattoo, one spreading out the skin, one wiping away the blood and excess ink, one was fanning away the flies. Traditionally, the design of the tattoo would be entirely up to the artist. As described of Queequeg's tattoos in Moby Dick,
"this tattooing had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even himself could read" -Queequeg and his Coffin
The Story After an hour-long car, ride, we finally pulled up to Sulu Ape's house. He is the best tattoo artist in all of Samoa, but as he was in American Samoa, we agreed to be tattooed by his son Peter. We entered the fale and talked for a while (not about the tattoos). Finally, we got to business, and Andrea went first. She got a big one on her outer thigh. Then was Michelle with one on her wrist... here's some footage:
(At the end he said "where you going?" to which I replied "faleuila" which literally translates to house of lightning but means the restroom.) Then I had my turn. It's a fish. And if you ask me what it means, you probably won't get a straight-forward answer. First, because I don't know that I can even articulate it. Second, because I don't know that I'd want to.
And here's me playing it safe with my tattoo... you're supposed to keep from submerging tattoos in water immediately after getting them...
But who am I kidding, fish can't be out of water for too long...
After I had my tattoo done, I felt like a new person. I really do meditate on it everyday, and will continue to. Interesting note: in "A Bower in the Arsacides", Ishmael has the dimensions of a whale tattooed to his arm... What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid...- The Whiteness of the Whale
