Back on the Rock after the Vacay

Dedicated to everyone who made my recent trip to Cambodia so amazing and refreshing.

You know that feeling that you have after being away travelling for a long time?  You feel like you can't wait to go home, to sleep in your own bed, to get back to your old routine.  Now maybe its just that I love travelling or maybe its because American Samoa isn't exactly home for me but when it was time to end my recent trip to Cambodia and associated SE Asia, I didn't have that feeling.  In fact, it was quite the opposite, I wanted to stay.  Not stay and continue paying for hotels, meals and whathaveyou but stay in what I consider home.  I remember reading an article about Third Culture Kids (TCK) and Third Culture Adults (TCA), a very unscientific term used to describe someone who identifies strongly with multiple cultures and countries.  It was coined by a sociologist Ruth Hill Useem (thank you Wikipedia) and its something that I think more people identify with than you would think.  When I was in Cambodia, everything was different but the same.  There were new buildings, cafes, roads yet the old hangouts were still there, the people still the same and the culture  still colorful and vibrant.  It's decided, come 2014, I am going to be actively searching for a way to move back there and work.......permanently.

Anyways, I flew back from Phnom Penh on 7/10/13, the entire trip all the way back to Am Sam took me 42 hours.  This was mainly due to the fact that I had a nice long 13 hour layover in Seoul which was awesome cause it meant I had an entire day to explore a place I've always wanted to go to.  Little known fact, when my parents signed up to be missionaries with Maryknoll when I was a wee babe, they were given two options of where they would like to go; Cambodia or South Korea.  Obviously we know where they chose but I had always wondered what it would've been like to have lived in South Korea. Would I speak the language? Would I be way more academic? Would I be way more comfortable in city settings than I am now?  Seoul was incredible, unfortunately it was raining the entire day so my backpack and I were drenched, even with our respective rain covers in full utilization mode.  Went to see some temples, some of the markets and spent a lot of time in different noodle shops sampling local fare.  Got to meet up for dinner with my old classmate Jaehyun who is studying to be a Vet and he took me to this amazing restaurant that was just swimming with character and good eats.  As I was walking around looking like a total and complete tourist with my big ass backpack and my foldable tourist map of the city, looking for this street market, a very nice Korean came up to me and asked me where I was going, and happily walked 15 mins out of their way to show me where it was.....such a nice guy.  I wonder if that happens much in the US, I think we are all so preoccupied with our lives we forget to be nice to tourists, but then again, I have never lived anywhere in the US where there are a lot of foreign tourists.  I was also at this temple where I got ambushed by a bunch of teenage Korean girls who asked me to tell them my name, proceeded to write it down in Korean, and then asked me to copy what they had written, I did, they took a picture with me and headed out.  I am surmising that this was some sort of school project or scavenger hunt to try and get the students to use their English with tourists, but it totally took me for a loop.

Now, 5 countries later and 10 new stamps in the passport, I am back in AmSam, and while its nice to settle back into a routine, this island is getting smaller and smaller every time I come back.  Its the beginning of winter here (any by winter I mean windy and hot as opposed to just hot), which means there is the annual exodus off the rock.  There are so many goodbye parties that I am beginning to be a little sick of them all.  I begin to feel bad for thinking "just leave already, so I can stop getting all these e-mails about goodbye parties I feel obligated to attend."  I've had 2 since I've been back and have another one tonight......uggg.  When I leave, there will be no party, just dinner with my close friends. 

Work is the same, although a little slower since we are done with application season.  Now I can focus on implementation which is something I need to get better at at work.  I hopefully will also be going to the Big Island of Hawaii in September for a training, that is if I can convince my State office that it is cheaper as well as better use of manpower to send me there rather than Oahu.  I like Honolulu but I've been there several times now and would like to go see a different island.

Next week we have our camp.  I am nervous it is going to be an utter disaster but, I've learned that Samoans have a way of making the most out of anything so if they bring half of the enthusiasm they brought to the last camp, it will be a smashing success.  That being said, they all just got done with the camp in the outer Manu'a islands so they might be a little tired which means I will have to step up my game a little bit to compensate.

Alright, signing off, its Saturday and its the first sunny day in 5 days here so i'm gonna go snorkeling........I know all my complaining seems kinda ridiculous now eh?

Peace.

Check out this link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/31-signs-youre-a-third-culture-kid

Spot Checks

(Dedicated to my awesome co-workers with NRCS.  So proud to a part of such an awesome and smart team!)

So this week was the week of visitors.  We don't get off-island visitors that often so when we do it is usually a lot of fun to show them the work we do here.  Drew, our area engineer came down last week.  We showed him some of our sites and Jorge and I were relieved to hear his approval of us and the work we do.  Not gonna lie, was a little nervous we were going to be raked over the coals.   We took him out to the piggeries and showed him the systems. 

Over the weekend Jorge, Amy, Hobie, Prem, Captain Noonan and I went to Larsen's Beach.  My area resource conservationist came down a couple years back and totally fell in love with this cove.  It really is quite nice, see some of my earlier postings for pics.  He loves it so much its his desktop picture at his office in Honolulu.  Drew enjoyed it and it was really nice that Captain Noonan of the Coast Guard got to tag a long.  She is just an awesome awesome human being.  Smart, tough and very friendly, everything you need in a Captain if you ask me.  We went snorkeling, sunbathed (it started raining so it was brief).  The next day, Drew and I went to the Vatia tide pools.  I love this place because it is so easy to get to and provides such a huge reward for your effort.  Its a great place to take people to see the marine life because its like this little microcosm of fish and other creatures all wrapped in a couple tiny pools.  I love having guests visit here, its so easy to entertain in such a beautiful location.

The work week was busy.  Drew brought us a brand new lazer level for surveying so we spent a lot of time on Monday doing training for that.  This thing is pretty nifty and i think it will be a great asset to us in the field.  We also had spot checks.  Spot checks are my agencies version of quality assurance checks.  Each year, every office gets 5% of our vegetative and 5% of our engineering contracts checked.  They are randomly selected and they only tell us 24 hours in advance which ones they will be reviewing.  Drew reviewed three and found them all to be complete and compliant which was a total relief.  No corrective actions....thank god. 

My boss's boss Donna arrived on Monday.  She is new to the job in Hawaii and hadn't been to American Samoa before.  She was also here to do the 5% vegetative spot checks.  I was a little nervous but she also found no corrective actions which was also very reassuring to me.  Its nice to know that your hard work pays off.  Unfortunately she was only here from Tuesday thru Thursday so she didn't get a lot of time to see much stuff.  I made her promise me that next time she comes down, she come for at least a weekend that way i can show her some of the cool stuff we have here. 

Both Drew and Donna left last night.  Diego (my supervisor here) also left last night for 6 weeks!  So its me and Jorge until June when i leave for Cambodia.  I've been working with Prem to brush up my Khmer.  We've started speaking only in Khmer to each other and we've both noticed that it gets better each day we do it.  I'm hoping to get back to some reasonable understanding before i leave in June.

Almost done with my second semester of grad school, just have my final test and then i need to finish a research paper for this leadership class i am in through work.  8 pages single spaced....ugggg.

On the plus side, last night i picked up Becca Bolks (Andrea's sister) and her friend Katie who on a complete whim, decided to trek down to American Samoa.  They're flight attendants so they were able to get here cheap ($80 which is ridiculous considering it would cost me at minimum $1400).  They will be staying for 2 weeks.  Its a good thing i bought a motorcycle so they can use the car.

Alright, I'll leave you with some pictures from the tide pools.
Peace

Back to the rock!

Dedicated to all the people who are upset with me for wishing for snow while i was back in Minnesota.  Sorry it came late!

Finally back to American Samoa after almost 4 weeks away.  It was a good hiatus from the isolation of this rock here in South Pacific.  It was a solid trip full of trainings, knowledge, games, fast driving, drinking, eating, friends and family, thank you all!

I haven't had time to come back to my blog in a while and for that i apologize.  I know many of you enjoy the blogs i post and wish that i would be better at it.  I will try to keep up with it this time. 

Well it's tax time again.  For me it really sucks.  Not only am i subjected to federal tax but i also have to pay American Samoa tax.  Some of you might be saying "come on Nick, all of us have to pay both federal and state taxes."  Well that is true for me as well, with 3 key exceptions.  Firstly, American Samoan taxes are not withheld from my paycheck like state taxes would be if i were in CONUS (for those of you who aren't versed in the lingo, CONUS stands for Continental United States of America and means the lower 48).  This means that at the end of the year, i end up having no state withholding and subsequently end up having to pay a large sum of money to the government here.  The second reason taxes suck here is that we are stuck using the 2000 level IRS tax tables.  These tax liabilities are much higher than the current IRS tables because of the Bush Tax Cuts.  American Samoa was smart and didn't want to lose tax money so they froze the tables at the 2000 levels.  Finally, there is a 2% wage tax on your income on top of your tax liability, not your AGI, your total wages.  This for me alone was $1500 this year!  For those of you who are wondering, i owe American Samoa $8500!  Thankfully, they are cool with installments.  Last year i went in and paid $50 and told them i would come back and give them the rest once my federal refund was received.  It was quite funny because they were incredibly grateful that i even decided to come in and pay.  I came back in June and paid the remainder interest and penalty free.  Bet you wish the IRS let you do that!

It wouldn't be so bad if i didn't feel like my money was completely wasted.  I mean the roads are crap, the education system dismal, public works rarely work and politicians get paid way more than they should.  Also i don't get to vote but am required to pay taxes.  Now i know what D.C. residents feel like.  Anyway enough ranting.  Although despite all that, i am still here.

Tomorrow is my first big field day after being back.  We'll be hiking, surveying, filling out forms and doing resource inventories.  I am sure i will be covered in sweat by 10am and have gone through 3 shirts by 2pm. We have so many people interested in our programs which would be great if we had the staff and time to process all of the inquiries, unfortunately i will just have to do as many as i can before the deadlines,  there really isn't anything else i can do.  Thankfully Samoans are not are ornery as mainlanders and understand that nothing moves fast on the islands......I mean the speed limit is 25mph for crying out loud.

Well that is all for now.  Oh in honor of the upcoming Mustache/Water Slide/Slip-n-slide party coming up Saturday i share this photo of the planned water slide we are renting.  It is two stories which effectively makes it taller than most people's houses and only 2 stories shy of being the tallest structure in American Samoa.  Should be lots of fun, hopefully there will be minimal injuries.  Also a picture of my new hog "Emma" (thanks to Maureen Ulvi for the name), i bought it for $1000 before i left for vacation but am just getting to enjoy it now!  Stay toasty everyone and remember the warm waters of the South Pacific are waiting for you!

Till next time.

Baby's First Cyclone

Dedicated to all my friends and family who are coming to visit me this holiday season....

Well its official, we're about to get our first cyclone.  Before you panic and rush to the phone to call me, Tropical Cyclone Evan (not sure why a white man's name is used for a cyclone in Samoa) is only a Category 1 Tropical Cyclone.  Its projected path takes it right to our doorstep.  I closed my windows and brought everything inside.  We'll see how the winds are when i get home as to whether or not i need to board them up.  I'm thinking i probably won't unless we get further warnings. 

Somehow the thunderstorms and tornadoes of the Midwest don't seem as scary anymore.  At least not when you have a swirling storm of death coming at you.  I'm exaggerating of course.

Now onto the real stuff.  I just had an excellent visit from my good friend Andrea.  Andrea and i went to University together.  Since freshmen year we've had at least one class together every semester, sometimes two or three.  She is now a fellow at EPA in Chicago.  It was a trip full of diving and adventures.

Her flight was scheduled to arrive at 9:40 PM so Kristine (another good friend of mine here) and I were waiting at the top of a mountain to watch the plane land.  Around 9:50 PM i decide to call Hawaiian Airlines and ask them what is going on.  They say the plane had to return to Honolulu due to a medical emergency.  This meant that the plane didn't land here in American Samoa until about 4:30 AM.  UGGG!

But this also meant that we were able to have drinks at the tree house and watch the sunrise which was a treat as i am usually never awake early enough to do this.  We spent the rest of the morning sleeping off our tiredness.  In the afternoon i took Andrea on a kayak trip.  Its really easy to kayak from my house out to a beautiful pool with lots of fish.  Andrea had a field day collecting shells and flotsam. 

The next day we went for a short hike before catching a plane to Western Samoa.  We rented a car and immediately went to the South side of the island.  We went to the Sua Trench (some of you might remember that picture of a gigantic sink hole in one of my earlier blogs), it was very low tide.  There is a hole in which water comes in from the ocean you have to swim underwater and hold your breath to keep the .  I've never swam to it because every time I've been there the tide has been to extreme to risk trying it but this was a calm day.  Andrea and I went over to the edge and like little kids debated whether or not we should try and swim under it.  After numerous scouting attempts, i said i was going to do one more scouting attempt.  I got halfway there and realized that it would take longer to turn around and get back than just going for it.  I get to the other side and shout for Andrea but my voice is blocked by water and rock so after a few quick deep breaths i make the dive under and go back for her.  I make it back to the other side gasping for air.  I told her that it is totally doable but to make sure she is ready to kick as it is a good 50 feet of underwater swimming.  We proceed to do this about 4 times before we finally decide that we are done.

We were staying at these beach fales which are essentially open air bungalows with a mattress and a mosquito net.  As i would learn after 4 days, i like having a fan blowing on me when i sleep.  It was nice, we had a FiaFia (celebration show) at the fale in which the workers did traditional dancing and music.

We stayed at these fales for 2 nights.  One of those nights we were drinking with a bunch of Kiwi's (New Zealanders) and Australians.  We were trying to figure out a game to play.  I suggested flip cup, thinking that something as idiotic as flip cup would be a universal game.  I was wrong.  After teaching them how to play we played a total of 14 rounds!  They were so into it.  It was hilarious, they even started talking like Americans. 

We capped off our trip in Western with a hike up to Robert Louis Stevenson's grave.  For those of you that don't know, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote such classics as Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  He moved to Western Samoa in 1890 to find relief for a respiratory issue he had.  He eventually passed away here. 

We made a quick stop at the fish market before returning to Pago Pago for the rest of the trip.

The rest of the trip involved a lot of diving and hiking.  We went for a total of 5 dives while Andrea was here but i had a feeling that wasn't quite enough for her.  We wanted to do more but the weather wasn't the most cooperative.

It was a really good trip and it was excellent that Andrea was the first of my friends to come and visit me here.  It is no small feat. 

Now that i am done with my first semester of Grad school i can finally get ready for the next batch of visitors.....my mom, dad and brother who will be arriving in about 2 weeks......providing the island is still here and not blown off the map. You can thank Andrea for the amazing pictures and her underwater camera.

More updates after the storm has passed.

Mini Vacation

Its raining cats and dogs outside so i figured this is a good time for a blog update.

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the long delay in posting anythere here but i have been super busy with work.  I was lucky enough though to be able to go to Honolulu for 10 days for a work trip.  The training was on leadership, which suffice it to say is a strange and complex subject.  One could spend their enitre life talking and learning about leadership and as i found out from some of the speakers, there are people that do just that.

My apologies, my loyal camera of 5 years recently went kaput so i am now in the process of saving up for a nice one.  So no pictures in this blog.

Travelling to Hawaii was a breeze, for some reason there are never enough people leaving the island to fill up the plane, unless there is a party or conference up in Hawaii.  I went to the airport at 9:30 to check in and right as i get there, the system goes down.  The woman behind the desk was saying "I don't know if you'll get on..."  I politely reminded her that there was still about 2 hours to go until the plane was slated to leave.  She then proceeds to tell me that checkin closes at 10 because the baggage handlers need to go home for a funeral.....only in Samoa is there no backup for situations like this.  Anyhow, the computers come back on and i get my ticket, along with an empty seat next to me.  Sweet.

I hate this flight, it is always freezing cold, super dry, operates at this horrendous time of day and is just long enough that you want to sleep but not long enough that you actually can.  The plane leaves American Samoa at 11:20 pm and arrives in Honolulu at 5:20 am.  Although i must admit watching the sunrise as you land in Honolulu is pretty cool.  That and immigration is a snap cause your the first plane of the morning, although the officers are not always the happiest.

The plane ride was ok except for the fact that i couldn't eat because i needed to get a fasting lab done.  American Samoa has lots of good qualities, one in particular is very tasty, if not so good for you, food.  The diet of canned wahoo and corned beef was begining to get to me so i decided i better check to see if my chloresterol levels are too high or if i am becoming pre-diabetic (happy to tell you that neither is the case, btw).  But this meant no eating since 6pm so naturally i was starving.

I arrive at the office where i am supposed to pick up the government vehicle.  My work was gracious enough to let me borrow the GV while i was there so that i could get some of the housekeeping things that i needed to do done (like go to the doctor, etc.).  First time getting onto the freeway was a little scary.  Being used to only being able to go 25 mph tops is a big transistion to going 50 mph.  But after about 2 mins the fear evaporated and was replaced with sheer exhilerance and joy as i cranked that puppy up to 55 (maybe 60 at some points) and cruised into downtown Waikiki.  I checked into my hotel to drop off my bags and hustled over to the clinic.  They did their tests and i went for the most glorious IHOP breakfast i've ever had.  Totally worth it, even if 2 glasses of orange juice cost me $8! 

The rest of the day involved a visit to the State Office where i got to sit with all of my big bosses and talk shop.  Because we are so isolated from our headquarters, they treat me like a foreigner when i come there.  Telling me where stuff is in the office etc.  Little do most know that I've been there numerous times already.  Got a sit down with my director Mr. Figueroa who told me how impressed he was with my performance over the last few months especially considering the fact we haven't had a supervisor until just about a month ago. 

After that my numerous meetings i got suckered into leaving early with the director to go watch the baseball series playoffs.  I gotta say its nice to have a boss that plays as hard as he works...now if only that would translate more in American Samoa.

The training was very good.  It was interesting to meet people from the different agencies that sent representatives.  It was mostly military (only 3 civilian agencies sent 2 reps each), but that is just due to the large concentration of military in Hawaii.  I had been lucky to see my friend Alden from American Samoa as we were transferring between Hawaii, unfortunately the punk gave me this funky Oregon bug that he had got in his travels and i successfully managed to infect 3 other people in the training (one of them actually had to miss a day of the training she was so sick, felt a little bad about that one). 

The training mostly focused on telling us what this course is all about and helping us understand our personality types.  Apparently i am a ENTJ which means I'm Extroverted (shocker), Intuitive (whatever that means), Thinking (i wonder what to cook for dinner tonight?) and Judging (he did what with who?).  Apparently ENTJ is the most common personality type in the US. Something i was surprised to learn, and here i thought i was special....boooo.

Over the weekend i finally got some down time.  I went to the north shore where i saw the biggest waves of my life and the insane daredevils that challenge the glory of mother nature in a fierce battle of wills.  It was all i could do not to scream in horror as i saw one of the surfers fall, thankfully he was ok. 

I also went to the Arizona Memorial (or rather Valor in the Pacific National Monument as it is now called)>  It was very interesting to learn all the details about the attack on Pearl Harbor and how even though it should've been a crushing blow to the US, we manage to survive and prevail.  It all boiled down to this war being the war of the aircraft carrier instead of the battleship.  And thankfully, none of our aircraft carriers were in port the day of the attack (interesting....).

It was nice to see mother nature taking over the old ship hull.  While i understand the need for posterity and respecting of a grave site, you think they could've emptied the gas tanks first before they made it a memorial.  To this day, gas is still spewing out of the sunken ship.  You can see the gas films on the water surface when you look down from the memorial.  I said a little prayer and was on my way.

Saturday night was Halloween.  I was upset because i was missing a party that i had a costume made for in American Samoa.  So i decided to go to this huge Halloween party in downtown Honolulu and check out the bars and music with some old friends from Samoa.  That's the perk of living here, is that the vast majority of people travel through or go to live in Hawaii once they are done with Samoa so you almost always have someone there to see.  Right as i arrive, i hear the sirens go off.  I ignore them and go into the block party, i pay the $5 cover to go see a band i was interested in, and after only 2 songs the cops come and bust up the party saying that there is a tsunami warning and the block party is being shut down.  Man, i had a costume and everything that i had spent $15 on!  I make it back to my hotel and go up to my room on the 30th floor (figured i would be safe from a tsunami up there) and sit in boredom for a few hours, the tsunami waves comes and goes making barely a 4 foot wave, no damage.  But it was funny seeing people rushing to gas stations, food stores stocking up on toilet paper of all things.  Thankfully around 10:20 pm a knock on my door invites me to the suite next door where stranded hotel guests are having their own tsunami Halloween party.  I happily injected myself into their plans and had a blast, plus it was a way closer walk home.

Sunday involved homework and shopping.  Thankfully i was able to get both done.  Its interesting the things your friends ask you to bring back for them when you go to Hawaii.....salad dressing, balsamic vinegar, good beer, stogies and of course KY liquid (we only have the jelly kind here in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't but now you will be prepared!). 

One thing that shocked me about Hawaii was the number of homeless people there were.  There are Samoans who are poor but you never see anyone sleeping out in the streets because there is always a fale (guest house) available and its just Samoan custom to show help to the needy.  Same reason why there are no orphanages here, children just get adopted by family members.  Seeing all of these homeless people made me feel better about Samoa.  It has its problems but at least they are minor compared to Hawaii's.  Way to go Samoa for keeping your culture intact.

Monday involved more work and training but i decided to go to the airport early and get my drink on in the Delta SkyClub bar.  I find that being sufficiently loose helps me deal with plane trips better.  I still love travelling but as i get older i am getting more and more nervous about riding in planes. 

Made it back to Samoa and had an awesome gift waiting for me.......they had finally paved my road!  No longer does my truck have to travel across the Samoan equivalent of the Oregon Trail to get to my house.  It is now a nicely paved road.  While i enjoyed my time in Hawaii i was ready to get back.  An island is an island is an island.  The only difference is one has more people and the other is mine!  Until next time.

Oh by the way, my friend Andrea is coming to visit next week for a month!  So excited to finally have someone from the mainland come and visit my little rock here in the South Pacific, my parents and brother will not be far behind in December.

I just hope the heat stays away until they leave. 

Manono Pics

Here are a few shots from the big palagi trip to Manono Island in Western Samoa.
Enjoy, and thank you to everyone who provided pics from their cameras.

NO BOSS, NO FUN

Hello Everyone,
My sincerest apologies for not writing a blog last month.  I have been extraordinarily busy with work and vacationing. 
My boss and friend John Womack recently departed the island.  Naturally he departed as soon as the new employee got here which means that i effectively went from the rookie to the senior person in the office in the timespan of 1 year.  Still not sure how that happened but alas.  John moved off to Tennesse.  Its too bad because i've never had a boss like him and i doubt i ever will. 

I recently went on a trip to Independent Samoa for their 50th anniversary.  It was crummy weather but i still really enjoyed myself.  Alice and I decided to rent a car.  It was a little awkward because it was a left hand drive car but people drive on the right side of the road there.  Suffice it to say i drove into oncoming traffic a couple of times but thankfully, noticed before anything bad happened. 

We got to go see UB40 who were brought down for the celebrations.  It was kinda funny because this band is pretty old and if i was anywhere else in the world i probably would not have cared about UB40 playing close to me but because i am in Samoa and the slightest hint of celebrity here sends people into a frenzy, it was a super excited experience.  I went with Alice, Lucy, Phil and little Albie but inevitably managed to run into a couple of other friends from Am Samoa.  We danced the night away to hits such as Red, Red Wine, Kingston Town, and Way You Do The Things You Do.  Good concert with proper lights and good sound, thankfully the weather cooperated that night as well. 

We spent the remaining of the trip shopping and sightseeing, we went to the Sua trench.  Which is essentially this hollowed out cave that is affected by the gigantic waves that pound the shore.  You can lie back and let the current carry you back and forth through the trench, it really is quite beautiful, if not a little scary to get down to.

We wrapped up our trip on Monday and headed back to American Samoa, of course the plane was delayed about an hour and had to circle around the runway 2 times in order to find a suitable point to land. 

It was a really good trip and i hope that i get to go back sometime soon.

That is all for now.  Although i am getting kinda lonely here, would someone from the mainland hurry up and come visit me already, its been over a year now people!