The teacher line the girls from the finnes to da bickus

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...