Siapo making!

P3191044, originally uploaded by mandy.mantzel.

Tapa making is a PROCESS. First, you tear the bark from a tree. Then you cut and peel the brown part off of it. Then you roll it so it flattens. Then you scrape it with a seashell to get rid of residue. Then you soak it. Then you scrape some more, and pound it to flatten it/widen it. Then you set it out to dry under some rocks so it doesn't shrink.

Then you put it over one of these patterns (also pre-carved by Fa'amuli) and wet it with water. Then you grind red clay against seashells. Spread it with a "paintbrush" made of more treebark. Dry it under rocks again.

Then you take the dye from the tree bark (which I did NOT make... Fa'amuli had pre-made that for us). and color in however you like. You'll have to wait to see my final product when I get home..

Workin the plantation for the To'ona'i

P3010621, originally uploaded by mandy.mantzel.

Learning how to husk a coconut: check.

Learning how to climb a coconut tree: in process.

Our first To'ona'i

P2240595, originally uploaded by mandy.mantzel.

Every sunday everybody gets up and goes to church, and then comes home to eat the to'ona'i. Samoa is 98% Christian and they take the Sabbath very seriously! Saturday they (now we) get up early and go to the ma'umaga (plantation) to harvest the fruit and veggies, then we go home and build the umu (a stove of rocks) and do various other things to prepare for the meal on Sunday so that the maximum amount of time to rest is available.

So since this was our first To'ona'i, Jackie (our academic director) did all the work. We ate octopus, raw tuna, and many other random things. But it was all delicious! And we had our very own child to fan us. We should get this child-fanning-your-food thing going in the states asap.

Me as a farmer at the Lo'i

289, originally uploaded by mandy.mantzel.

Working at the Lo'i has been, by far, one of the coolest experiences since I've been here. Throughout the week, we've been learning about Hawaiian sovereignty movements and their efforts to return to a more traditional society where property is communal as well as is work (thus breaking dependence on the US/capitalism) Hawaiian Lo'i are basically farms that any local Hawaiian who knows "the protocol" can come and work, as well as reap the harvest without having to use any monetary exchange.

On this day, I weeded the swampy Lo'i while dodging centipedes and crayfish (?) and mosquitos (oh my!) and then harvested Taro root (as seen in the picture). It was a really cool process to learn, and communal farming seems like such a cool concept that I would love to activate in my hometown.