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. 

Friends and Family

Today was my third full day in Samoa, as most of you know. We did even more visits to Samoan homes and learned even more about the culture. Today I learned: 

• When invited into a Samoan home, do not expect furniture. You can sit on the floor.
• When sitting on a Samoan floor, sit "indian style". 
• When sitting "indian style" on the Samoan floor try not to fidget too much. You can move if your leg goes to sleep but really only because you are a "palagi" (white person).
• When fidgeting while sitting "indian style" on a Samoan floor, try to be discrete and not let them know that you are uncomfortable.

Needless to say, the visits with the Samoan families were very interesting. We went into two houses and sat on the floor for a grand total of probably one hour and forty-five minutes. Let me tell you as an inflexible (for the most part) palagi, this was difficult.

We also had church tonight for the first time since I have been here. It was a small group, 12 people total (including Marci, Melinda and myself) and we met in the Pacific Horizons High school classroom. Right now, an issue in the church is how to talk to family members, friends, and other non-believers about the Gospel. The Samoans in the church are finding it hard to approach people and actually brave enough to talk about that fact. I know that more American Christians struggle with that then would probably say that they do. Tonight we addressed the question of proving the existence of God to someone who does not agree that the Bible is the holy, inspired Word of God. I was impressed with David (my missionary father and preacher of the Tafuna Church of Christ) for even messing with this question at all. We looked at Paul's sermon to the people in Athens in Acts 17 and verses in Romans 2 about the existence of God being plain and obvious. We came to some good real conclusions about why people, Samoan and American, can come to the conclusion that God is not real or that no "higher power" exists. Tia (an elder) and Pua (his wife) gave some very good answers about why Samoan people might reject the thought of God. The blend of the American and Samoan influences, even in church, is quite interesting when you stop to think about it. 

Tomorrow we are going to go to the Hospital to pick up medicine for David. The only pharmacy on island is in the hospital. Being that the island is about 18 miles long and 5 miles wide, it's not so surprising that the only doctors on the island are employed at the hospital as well. I am really interested to see what medicine looks like in a different country.

Tonight we had fresh, chilled, coconut juice (it wasn't quite ripened into milk yet). It was not at all what I thought it would taste like. It actually had very little flavor. I do not think that I will make it a regular staple on a drink, but for the one time only kind of experience, it wasn't half-bad. Today I also had some of the best Chinese food I have ever tasted at David's favorite Chinese place on island. 

Tomorrow, we are also going to visit more families that have children in the age group that I am going to be teaching on Sunday mornings and that we are going to be planning activities for while we are here. Today we met about 2-3 that might come to our outings, and we are going to meet more tomorrow. I think that Samoan children are some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen. When we start getting to know them, I am sure that I will be getting lots of pictures of them. 

Speaking of pictures, I am working on getting a presentation that would flip through the pictures for you up on the blog soon. I hope that this has been a worthy update. I am sorry that it is so long. I pray that all of your summers are going well, and that you will continue praying for the children and the people here in Samoa that have already stolen my heart and are not about to give it back.

Explanation of Pictures

I am getting better at this whole blog thing but it is a bit of a challenge.  Here is the breakdown of the pictures.

• The first picture in the last post is Turtle and Shark Beach. It is on the south side of the island, facing New Zealand.
  
• The next picture is my team at Turtle and Shark Beach with the poster behind us.
  
• The little island is called flowerpot island because it looks like a flower pot. The beach, with all the volcanic rock (black) is called Turtle and Shark Beach. 
  
• The picture with the channel in the middle is just a cove on the island that is extremely beautiful. 
  

Today we visited with some of the church members and had lunch with the leadership of the church, Lynn and Tia (Elders), Jerry, and our missionary "dad", David (davida in Samoan). We spent time driving around the island and learning some Samoan terms such as fale (house), lavalava (sarong), aiga (pronounced i'inga--Family), Tafuna and Illilli (our village), tama (taMA is father, TAma is boy) and some more that we are working on. We learned our first phrase, which I cannot spell, but it meant "I love Dad". 

The most interesting thing that I have learned so far is about the Samoan sense of family. Everyone has family here, whether biological or not. There are no homeless people on the island because everyone has someone who considers them family and takes care of them day in and day out for the rest of their lives once they become a part of the family. I think that this is an incredible example of how important community is to the human race. It has always been like that in Samoa. Even the vagrants and people who would be homeless, have people who shelter and feed them at night. 

When we went to the Nu'uuli Church of Christ to meet Lu'ao, the preacher there, he was very hospitable, as Samoans are known to be. He offered us CocoSamoa which is like coffee but made with cooked Samoan coco beans. It was very interesting and bitter. I know that my Aunt Deatra would have LOVED it. I thought about her with every sip. We spoke about a couple of interesting legends that Marci and Melinda recorded on their blog. (marciandmelinda.blogspot.com) You should check that out or I may eventually just steal the stories from them all together. 

After lunch, we went to see one of the families who's children may be in our class. In this house, a couple lives with their daughter and three grandchildren. Julius and Fiona (the older couple) were both just baptized last week in their swimming pool. The children were swimming when we got there. The children were so shy and beautiful, and the people have all been so sweet and receiving of us. I have never been in a place where I looked so different that I was stared at, but the stares that we have gotten so far have been friendly and kind. I am approximately 200% lighter skinned than any Samoan I have met. I may have felt out of place, but I can see that the people have such kind hearts; they don't care how white I am.

Thanks for the continued support and my knowledge of the islands, people, culture, and language will continue to grow everyday, so stay tuned!!!

Love from Samoa,

Kate

My first pictures

You gotta see this place!

Today was my first real day in American Samoa, here is how it began. I opened my eyes and felt the back of my neck. Sweat, already? was my first thought of the day. I then proceeded to wonder where on earth I was and I was so hot. I then peered out my window and saw the huge ginger plant with its bright red flower at my window and remembered. Oh yeah, I am not in Texas anymore. I am halfway across the world and a mere 14 degrees south of the equator.  (I admit the equator part wasn't there in my first thought, but the rest of it stuck.) I then got up at about 7AM (1:00PM Abilene time) and got ready and had breakfast. We listened to the rain as it fell on the ocean and watched it come in and rain on us. They get about 200 inches a year here. It was incredible. We then went with Colleen on a tour of the island. I never knew a place could be so green. I learned some Samoan words (like i'inga means family) and had some raw fish that Marci my teammate accidentally ordered. It was raw tuna with wasabi and soy sauce. Tomorrow we are going to visit with some members of the church that we should know and Saturday we are going shopping for material for our pul'letasei (hand made dresses). I am so excited. This culture is incredible. I am learning so much every day. I would ask, instead of praying for me, until my next request, pray for the people in the church that I am working with. It is called the Tafuna church of Christ. Thanks so much for the support.

Must Get Sleep Soon

Too tired. Simple language tonight. In Samoa: Hot and Humid, even at night. Ocean view from back porch. Affirmative: water goes down drain other way. 11:39 PM here, 5:39 AM Texas time. Customs and baggage claim crazy. Easy but LONG flights. No cell phone signal on island, but wifi in house. Tour of island and pictures tomorrow. Welcoming party at the airport with some of the teens and other intern. Nothing can describe how relieved I am to be here. This = dream and opportunity of a life time. Realization: God goes with me even here. Best time of traveling: Garden in Hawai'i. Worst time traveling: last flight took forever (very sleepy). Most stressful: when I put my passport in the wrong compartment of my backpack and thought someone had stolen it in my sleep. Best flight: Abilene to Dallas with Hallie Fraizer next to me. Worst flight: both 5 hour ones. Best airport: Hawaii. Most stressful airport: PagoPago(best said quickly with silent n, making it PONGOpongo like the male dalmatian in 101 Dalmatians). 24 hours ago I was in the Abilene Airport waiting to get to Dallas. Now: PagoPago, American Samoa (Illillili village, not too sure about that spelling, that is how it sounds). Thanks for the prayers. These people love God, each other and new comers, guys, and its awesome.

Aloooooooooha!

Hey Avid Readers Anxiously Awaiting My Next Post!

Or should I say aloha! I am in Honolulu International Airport anxiously awaiting my next flight. Destination: Pago Pago, American Samoa. God has blessed me immensely so far. I have had great smooth ON-TIME flights, wonderful flight attendants, nice next-seat-neighbors, and even a hot meal. They showed us 27 Dresses on the last flight, so the ever-adorable James Marsden kept me company. I still have 3 hours until boarding and so I am taking the time to hack onto the Airport internet for a chat with you. 

The airport is less than beautiful, but my fresh rainbow sherbert from Lani Moo's is making up for it. I am looking at a garden out the window of the food court and trying to count the number of goldfish on steroids in the pond below. There are a number of places I would rather be than the airport, a number of people I would rather be with than myself *sob sob* but there are not a number of states I would rather be in, besides Alaska...no, not even there. I can't spare too much time staring at this screen because the garden is so beautiful, but I am happy to report that I am safe and sound, for now, in Hawai'i (don't forget the apostrophe). 

More once I get to Pago Pago!!!!! Thanks for reading up. Please comment so I know people are reading this, even if its just your name! 

Thanks, Kate

P.S. I love island accents, but they are terrible for this Texan to understand! :)