If the trend hasn't become apparent already, I should apologize for the in-cohesiveness of my posts. Timed internet cafes aren't conducive to good bloggin'.
During the time when I was busy writing my ISP, I couldn't wait to come home. These are the things I was looking forward to in the States:
-hot showers
-clean clothes
-hairdryers
-High-speed internet
-my car/being able to go wherever I want whenever I want
-LOST/ Soyouthinkyoucandance?
-celery, apples, healthy stuff and vegan alternatives
- queso and chocolate chip cookies (forget the contradiction... let me have what I want)
- used bookstores
- NPR
the list goes on... all superficial things, really.
The things I was ready to get away from:
-standing out everywhere I go because I'm white
- my housemates screaming/singing/blasting their music at all hours of the night
-the HEAT/insects
As much as I was looking forward to going home, I was on an emotional rollercoaster during the days leading up to my departure. I would be riding down the road through the mountains and just break into tears for no reason other than that I realized I might not ever be able to come back. And because the scenery really is breathtaking. And also thinking about all the people I've gotten close to...
Now that I'm back in Hawaii (which is somewhat of a cultural mid-way point between living in the Mainland America and living in Samoa) it's becoming clear to me the things I will miss most from Samoa.
1) The "smiling game". I loved just smiling at people... as weird as that sounds it really became addictive. Smiles really are contageous!
2) The busses and the market-- being able to touch someone in passing without them getting offended-- whether it's sitting in a stranger's lap or bumping into someone.
3) The scantily clad men and those tiny little rugby shorts. It really seems like gender roles were reversed-- in that the men were objectified based on their physique.
4) Being able to put on weight and still have people respect you for who you are.
5) Sunni dance parties-- or in general being able to sing/dance at any time/any place without question
6) Being able to laugh at things... not having to be politically correct all the time.
7) Hanging out in the office with my au palangi *
8) Tip Top ice cream. Ice cream is always better when you have to down it within 2 minutes or it will end up all over your already-dirty clothes.
9) The USP students and the friends I made there. By far one of the hardest things to leave...
These lists (as always) are non-exhaustive. There's just too much to say...
*team white people (/ study abroad group)
Showing posts with label buses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buses. Show all posts
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
American Samoa (in a nutshell)
My study-abroad program is actually considered to be a "Pacific Islands Studies" rather than just Samoa, so I have been island hopping a bit to American Samoa and to Fiji.
In American Samoa, the first thing I noticed was how many obese people there are. There's McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and all the things we now see as mistakes in the States. My host family served me spam, fried egg, and mayonaise sandwiches. They have an abundance of resources as far as crops go and the Starkist tuna cannery is in Pago Pago, but they don't really tend to their crops like they do in (Western/Independent) Samoa and the fish that they catch are canned and shipped to America. I never had fresh tuna... only canned! Isn't sat vierd?
I also felt as though perhaps the people (specifically the girls) weren't as confident there. My host in American Samoa kept telling me she was trying not to eat so that she could be thinner. In (Ind.) Samoa, the big girls are like "yeah I'm fat! look at all this food I can afford to eat!"
The pollution was also a bit disheartening. In Samoa, they don't really have a very effective waste management system. When I'd help out around the house and pick up the rubbish, they'd have me dump it off the cliff into the ocean (or to roll down to their neighbor's yard). But I was picking up leaves, peels, and other decomposable things (they have plastic bags that are made of starch and decompose after 60 days). Vailima is a Samoan beer, and the only beer anyone drinks here, so the bottles are just rinsed and re-used. On the other hand, American Samoa is a US territory, and therefore has all kinds of US things imported. Packaged things with individual wrappers. Wrappers that don't decompose so readily. What a circus.
I was talking with some of the girls who were poli-sci majors at American Samoa Community College about women in politics (or lack thereof, in American Samoa's case), and in the course of our conversation, I thought it was interesting when one said she thought that most women aren't running for political office because they aren't taught that women can do the job, but that if Hillary were to win the elections in America, then perhaps that would set an example for women in American Samoa.
American Samoa also felt much less communal. On my first day of classes there, I was THREE HOURS LATE because no busses would stop. Apparently, this was because they were all full, but I was so confused because there is no such thing as a "full bus" in (independent) Samoa. Later that day, I learned (through an awkward trial and error) that "stacking" (sitting on another's lap) was inappropriate. Bah Humbug.
In American Samoa, the first thing I noticed was how many obese people there are. There's McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and all the things we now see as mistakes in the States. My host family served me spam, fried egg, and mayonaise sandwiches. They have an abundance of resources as far as crops go and the Starkist tuna cannery is in Pago Pago, but they don't really tend to their crops like they do in (Western/Independent) Samoa and the fish that they catch are canned and shipped to America. I never had fresh tuna... only canned! Isn't sat vierd?
I also felt as though perhaps the people (specifically the girls) weren't as confident there. My host in American Samoa kept telling me she was trying not to eat so that she could be thinner. In (Ind.) Samoa, the big girls are like "yeah I'm fat! look at all this food I can afford to eat!"
The pollution was also a bit disheartening. In Samoa, they don't really have a very effective waste management system. When I'd help out around the house and pick up the rubbish, they'd have me dump it off the cliff into the ocean (or to roll down to their neighbor's yard). But I was picking up leaves, peels, and other decomposable things (they have plastic bags that are made of starch and decompose after 60 days). Vailima is a Samoan beer, and the only beer anyone drinks here, so the bottles are just rinsed and re-used. On the other hand, American Samoa is a US territory, and therefore has all kinds of US things imported. Packaged things with individual wrappers. Wrappers that don't decompose so readily. What a circus.
I was talking with some of the girls who were poli-sci majors at American Samoa Community College about women in politics (or lack thereof, in American Samoa's case), and in the course of our conversation, I thought it was interesting when one said she thought that most women aren't running for political office because they aren't taught that women can do the job, but that if Hillary were to win the elections in America, then perhaps that would set an example for women in American Samoa.
American Samoa also felt much less communal. On my first day of classes there, I was THREE HOURS LATE because no busses would stop. Apparently, this was because they were all full, but I was so confused because there is no such thing as a "full bus" in (independent) Samoa. Later that day, I learned (through an awkward trial and error) that "stacking" (sitting on another's lap) was inappropriate. Bah Humbug.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
cool AND unusual
Oh, the busses in Samoa. This one's nicer cause it's charter, but it still captures the essence.
Here's a list of some phrases seen on the front of these busses:
"Loose Kids"
"Legalize it"
"Sa Piling Mo" (the title of a popular show from the Phillipines)
"Island boys"
"Ill-da-noiz"
"I'll be back"
... and I'm at a loss for others. But they're good, ok?
And my favorite has been the bus with a huge blown up pic of Tupac in the front, and on each side is a smaller pic of Jesus.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Peanut Gallery
Better known as SIT Samoa Spring 08. This is my study abroad group in a nutshell.
Left to Right:
Jessica "Sita" is reading.
Rachel "Lasela" is dancing.
Michelle "Misa" is also dancing, and it's just funny because she seems to be more shy and yet the Samoans love to oil her up or pull her out in front of crowds to dance for everyone.
Meredith "Mele" is flying. She drew the picture so she gets the cool skills.
I'm underneath her. O igoa Samoa o "Meni". I'm in the ocean. Shocker, right?
Chris "Kilisi" is the token boy doing god-knows-what in the fale. Just kidding guys, he's doing hip stretches.
Laura "Lola", Andrea "Lea", Allie "Sona", and Anna "Ana" are all thinking about Hot Boys with rat-tails and mullets. But let's face it, we're in Samoa, so who isn't?
And then Kathy "Kati" and Taylor "Teila" are riding the bus while Teila in particular has made a "friend". She may or may not have been molested on her first bus ride.
And then we have our puppet-master Sieki who is pulling all of our strings. Silao is smokin, drinkin, and just doesn't give a rats.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
It's not always sunny in Samoa
During my 2nd "drop-off", I jumped on a bus to Solosolo (because that's where I heard the experts go to surf). On my way there, I met a girl around the age of 13 who was heading to Salesa, but told me she'd help me get to where I needed to go-- and told me to follow another girl on the bus named Susannah. We kept talking and were having a great conversation, and when we got to Solosolo she ended up getting off the bus as well. Susannah was so excited and told me to come to talk to her mom, and kept insisting that I stay with them. But then Telesa kept insisting that I keep walking with her to her village.
So, for most SIT programs, "drop-offs" typically last for only a few hours at the most. But in Samoa, the busses only make their last round to Apia around 4, so anyone in the village without a car is stranded (or has to take a taxi-- which is NOT safe to do alone) and will typically just stay with a family. As it was already 3:30 and I hadn't really gotten to see much of Solosolo, I seriously started to consider staying the night out in a village, and not returning to check in with our group until the morning. But then, Telesa pulled me aside and said "you REALLY don't want to stay here in Solosolo!" And then she started speaking Samoan really fast and I didn't understand... but I caught her say "last month" and "the girl" and "her parents" and "that tree" and "in Solosolo!" while she was making gestures of someone getting hung and stabbing their side. "Pule i le ola!" she said over, and over. I had her write it down so that I could ask my AD when I returned. After attempting to decipher her gestures, I assumed that a girl got hung or something, and although I'm an adventurous kinda gal, I really didn't want to risk anything on my first night.
When I returned to meet with the group, I showed our Academic Director the note, and she said that "pule i le ola" literally means "to take control of ones own life"-- meaning suicide. This was my first brush with understanding how Samoans view life and death. In America, individualism reigns, and it's considered a good thing to be self-interested and "take control of your own life". But in Samoa, it seems like that's nearly impossible. The family structures have just seemed so rigid, that no matter what you do, you will always be defined by a larger group.
Suicide rates have been a concern in Samoa, and I was interested in that before I came. In Sia Figiel's Girl in the Moon Circle, she says that suicide in Samoa is about breaking ties with or dis-associating yourself from your family. Usually when someone dies in Samoa, their body is encased in an elaborate monument looking thing in their family's front yard. The family is constantly reminded of this person and openly meditates on them. Those who pule i le ola don't get any of this, and they are said to just be "forgotten"... but this little girl didn't seem to forget.
So, for most SIT programs, "drop-offs" typically last for only a few hours at the most. But in Samoa, the busses only make their last round to Apia around 4, so anyone in the village without a car is stranded (or has to take a taxi-- which is NOT safe to do alone) and will typically just stay with a family. As it was already 3:30 and I hadn't really gotten to see much of Solosolo, I seriously started to consider staying the night out in a village, and not returning to check in with our group until the morning. But then, Telesa pulled me aside and said "you REALLY don't want to stay here in Solosolo!" And then she started speaking Samoan really fast and I didn't understand... but I caught her say "last month" and "the girl" and "her parents" and "that tree" and "in Solosolo!" while she was making gestures of someone getting hung and stabbing their side. "Pule i le ola!" she said over, and over. I had her write it down so that I could ask my AD when I returned. After attempting to decipher her gestures, I assumed that a girl got hung or something, and although I'm an adventurous kinda gal, I really didn't want to risk anything on my first night.
When I returned to meet with the group, I showed our Academic Director the note, and she said that "pule i le ola" literally means "to take control of ones own life"-- meaning suicide. This was my first brush with understanding how Samoans view life and death. In America, individualism reigns, and it's considered a good thing to be self-interested and "take control of your own life". But in Samoa, it seems like that's nearly impossible. The family structures have just seemed so rigid, that no matter what you do, you will always be defined by a larger group.
Suicide rates have been a concern in Samoa, and I was interested in that before I came. In Sia Figiel's Girl in the Moon Circle, she says that suicide in Samoa is about breaking ties with or dis-associating yourself from your family. Usually when someone dies in Samoa, their body is encased in an elaborate monument looking thing in their family's front yard. The family is constantly reminded of this person and openly meditates on them. Those who pule i le ola don't get any of this, and they are said to just be "forgotten"... but this little girl didn't seem to forget.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Drop-offs and my journey to the State Capitol
SIT does these things called drop-offs, and during our hectic orientation week in O'ahu, this was a breath of fresh air. We really have been in the classroom almost all day every day. So on my drop-off, I walked back to the location (rather than taking the bus, even though it took me over 3 hours).
First, I went to this planetarium show at the museum that talked about how the polynesians first navigated through the pacific using only the stars. That was so cool, and if I had more time I'd like to write more on that.
Next, I went to Chinatown and attempted (very poorly) to converse in Chinese. Side note: I've made a friend here named Allie that is fluent in Chinese and we have been practicing together.
Then I went to the state capitol, where this picture is taken. Their house and senate floors are on the ground floor, and visible from people passing in the streets. I thought that was SO cool... given that it makes participation/observations much more accessible. Too bad nothing was going on... but it seems cool in theory.
Then I came across a workers' strike against a convenience store. I talked with them for a little bit about some of the issues facing local workers and again, I just wish I had more time to blog about this.
Finally, I met back up with the group at the International Marketplace. The end.
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