Thursday, June 5, 2008

To the edge of the world and back!



Today I went to the end of the world, and then came back, all before lunch time. 

With that detail out of the way, I will say that today we did more visits with families with sweet Samoan children that we are looking forward to getting to know. We visited one family that all live in a compound of six houses and are all related. It would be like living in one place with all of your extended family on one side. I am not sure how they decide whether to live with the mother or the father's family, but they mostly live together. The Cialaiga's have at least 6-7 houses that are all inhabited by different branches of one family. They share things and houses for the most part and the distinctive lines between the families are greatly faded. 

On our way to the compound of houses, we drove to the end of the world. It is a road along the ridge of one of the mountains here and when the road ends, you can see the end of the world...or at least miles and miles of the Pacific Ocean. The lines between the sky and the sea are very indistinct. The blues fade into each other and it is a one-of-a-kind experience. 

On the way down the mountain, we visited two other families and talked with them for a few minutes. They are all such great people; I am yet to meet a Samoan that I didn't like. We didn't get more vocabulary words to memorize today but we looked at the material for our dresses that we are going to have made this weekend for us. 

We also went to the airport to get our tickets for our "vacation" to Apia, Western Samoa. That's right folks, paper airplane tickets. We had to wear our "patience hats", as David said, because the airport is a very busy place because they don't have the online booking things for the inter-island flights that we are taking. We have to be weighed with our bags in order to balance the plane out. More on that when it happens.

That is basically all we did today and I am hoping to get more pictures up soon. 

5 comments:

Brantly said...

the ocean looks beautiful!
i wish i could see it in real life.

momandlucy said...

Thanks for all blog entries. It is more special than you know. Lots of people tell me they see it. Have a great day. I love you.

Anonymous said...

Cool video. I'm jealous.

(How many times have I said that, now?)

You should totally jump off the end of the world, just to say you have. No, I'm kidding. Please come back to me!

fireinacan said...

Wow- right after Calculus is over in July I'm hitch-hiking to Southern Cali and then I'm gonna swim and meet you on the island. Sound like a plan? I'm guessing it will take me a bit, unless I hit the currents just right or find some amiable sea turtles swimming my way. If I'm not there by the 20th- might want to call the coast guard.

Well, now back to learning an entire chapter of calculus in a weekend!

MAMA said...

Wow Kate,

How fun it is to be able to join you as you participate on this adventure. I am wondering what you are seeing in the beautiful water in the pictures. Is it warm? Keep up the journaling.

Love, MAMA