Easter

Hi all.
Happy Easter!  It's kind of a big deal here, most of the locals got Friday off for good Friday (naturally, i didn't).  I didn't think i'd ever find a job that got more holidays off than mine, and poof i found it.  I did a lot this week, was outside in the field almost every day which was great for my health, not so much for my sunburn.  Mila (my co-worker and translator) and I went to a couple of piggerys where we surveyed for resource concerns.  So NRCS cost-shares to farmers to improve their ag systems.  Here in American Samoa, there are a lot of pig farmers.  These piggerys are typically pretty small scale, and the pigs are cooked in these 'umus' which are basically underground ovens with hot coals on top.  Anyways, most of these piggerys are cleaned by just washing them down which is causing severe pollution to local streams and waterways.  NRCS will cost-share a dry-litter composting piggery which basically is a fancy new holding pen where they use woody debris like woodchips which mix with the pig shit to produce compost that they can use on their bananas and taro crops, pretty ingenious huh?  The only issue is that woodchips are tough to come by so a lot of these farmers are violating their contracts by having these fancy new holding pens and continuing to wash them down, defeating the whole purpose of the cost-sharing.  Thankfully, Land Grant finally got a industrial chipper that they can bring out to these producers to help them manage their wood chip stocks. 

Went for another hike to Larson's Cove on saturday and met up with my Samoan Family (as they like to call it, i think they've officially adopted me).  You can tell we had a rain event over the week because there was a lot of trash washed up on the shore, which sorta took away from the beauty of the place, but it was fun none-the-less.  When we got back, they insisted on feeding and dressing me, even tho i insisted that i wasn't hungry and that my old cloths were just fine.  It was a losing battle and i ended up leaving with a load of soup and dressed from head to toe in red.

That night i went to a BBQ at a friends house, there seems to be this core group of off-islanders that always hang out together so that has been nice in the sense that you see these people at least 2, if not 4 times a week.  All really good people, incredibly friendly.  They all accepted me into the click (not that there really is one) and have just been the bees knees.  That following Sunday, Michaela (definitely the social matriarch of the island) had everyone over for Sunday brunch so lots of food and momosas. 

I am super pumped that i get to go to the outer islands tomorrow.  We're going there to do some GPS surveying and get some contracts signed.  My only regret is that we can't stay longer, i'm secretly hoping something catastrophic happens with the plane (preferably after we arrive) that forces us to stay a little longer.  Ofu and Ta'u are supposed to have some of the most pristine beaches in the world.  Everything is cash only there so i gotta take out an advance on my card which is too bad cause i have to put the card into the ATM 3 times to get enough.  My co-worker Sarah is leaving for the better part of a month on Monday so it'll just be Mila and I until my boss John gets back next week.  And with only 2 flights a week from Hawaii and here it'll be interesting.  And the Budget officer should be back in the office on tomorrow so i should be able to get my travel reimbursement put through which will be sweet as i need to pay off that card by the 30th. 

Well with that i will leave you begging for more.  I promise lots of pics from Ofu and Ta'u when i get back on Wednesday.  Later.

An old piggery that will be replaced with a composting one.

Soil erosion so significant that it needs to be stopped with a retaining wall, this guy could probably use some more money for a veg barrier but thats for a different time.

Stunning view of Masefua bay, a tiny town on the other side of the island.

 

An amazing view from atop the road to Masefua and you can see a rain shower in the distance.

Hey all,

I wanted to show you some pictures of what happened to the earth during the 2009 earthquake and tsunami. Crazy to think that the earth can move this much for just a 7.5 magnitude earthquake

What a Weekend!

Hello,

So this was a crazy busy American Samoa Flag Day weekend.  Territorial Flag Day was when Am Sam became a official US territory.  So Am Sam is 111 years old this weekend. I think i've been more socially active in the last 7 days than my entire first year in Linton, ND.

On friday afternoon i moved into my new apartment in Meseapa.  It's a 2 bedroom apartment located near the community college, it is raised on stilts in a compound that contains 4 other units.  Very well kept up, with the exception of a couple of cockroaches that have met their demise at the sole of my show. Growing up in Cambodia i know that no matter how clean you keep your house, those nasty little buggers will find their way in.  One of them was an easy target Saturday morning, sleeping on its back with its legs in the air, the other made me work for it a little but he was disposed of, so far no more, fingers crossed.  The power here is pre-pay, which is somewhat bizzare to me.  I think the previous tenants jerry-rigged the thing because i show 0 credit yet i still have power, my friend Jesse is experiencing the same thing and says he hasn't recieved a bill or paid for power for 5 months now! I'm gonna go into the power company tomorrow and confess the situation, i'm only doing this cause i don't want them to come at me in 5 months with a $700 electric bill.  Its furnished with the essentials.  Kinda kicking myself in the ass for not shipping any of my kitchen stuff.

After moving in i went to watch some of the traditional boat races that happen every flag day, they bear a strong resemblence to the boat races that happened in Cambodia for the water festival.  Basically a bunch of guys in short long boats rowing against an opposing boat.  I watched and cheered when the highschool boat which cost 5k beat out the team who had spent 100k in a tight race, at least that is what the man next to me told me.

Friday night I went to another palagis birthday party.  He works for the National Park Service and it was definatly a big communal event, with all sorts of pork products as well as some amazing grilled eggplant, Jesse made.

Saturday involved my adventure to Larson's Cove.  It took me a long time to find the right road (if you can call it that, more of a trail, or a really, really, really, old road).  I parked my car and beat away some of the dogs, one was a rotweiller that looked particularily menacing, thankfully he was a pansy and scampered off with his tail between the legs when i threw a rock at him.  I started hiking up this road and stopped at the first house along the way to make sure i was going the right way.  At first the family just glared at me and just like that they offered to let me park my car there (cause they were worried about it getting broke into) and offered to take me down there as they were going already.  Hannah and Kano, the two sweetheart lovers walked with me down to the secluded cove which involved quite a steep climb up and then down again.  They joking said that they've never seen a ghost until i took off my shirt. They were so friendly offering me water, tuna, and some sort of sweet taro treat.  I wish i had something in return so i started snapping photos of the two of them which i plan on putting in a frame and giving to them next time i head down there.

After the tide started coming in and all of our junk was starting to get inundate by the waves, we went back tot their house where of course they felt compelled to feed me.  A massive plate of turkey tail, grilled chicken, sausage and boiled bannanas smothered in coconut milk.  These people are so gracious here, they don't even know me and they are feeding me, you just don't find that kind of hospitality in many places around the world. 

Saturday night i went to a Fa'fafine show with a bunch of other palagis.  Fa'Fafine's are drag queens and this was the beauty pagaent of the year if not the social event of the season.  All walks of life were present, commoners, governmental officials and church leaders.  Fa'fa's are men who chose to live their lives like women, not in the sense of what we think about drag queens that they are dolled up for shows but then revert to their regular manish appearances, these men wear dresses and makeup everywhere they go and are considered important members of society.  Its really quite amazing that such a religious culture has such a open tolerance of this kinda thing.  Because its flag day, the Marine band was on the island for some shows, so there were quite a lot of confused soliders at the hotel watching as these queens, many of which were not only bigger but quite a bit taller than some of them, walked onto this catwalk perched precariously over the pool.  The queen i was gunning for didn't win but she did win Miss Talent for her side-splitting rendition of the scene from Titanic when Jack and Rose are in the freezing water waiting to get rescued.  And there was a patriotic wear portion and there was a queen who wore a straight up eagle dress, holy cow.  After the winner was crowned we went to Karaoke and i did my best impression of Lou Vega and his smash hit, Mambo #5.  After Jesse S. and I went to McDonalds for a late night snack and sure enough there were the queens in thier full evening gowns gorging their faces with Big-Macs.  We chatted them up and congradulated the winner on her crown.

After waking up with a hangover, i went to Tisa's Barefoot on Sunday.  It was quite a ways out but stunningly beautiful.  Luckily the Marine band was there for a performance so a bunch of us were able to enjoy their talented music.  Talk about a sweet job to have in the military, the only combat these guys see is probably the occassional booing which because they're so good, they don't hear that often.  I went for a swim but i've noticed that if you're looking for nice sandy beaches here, don't hold your breath, its mostly craggly rocks and coral as soon as you get 10 feet into the water.  That shouldn't stop you tho, just make sure you wear some shoes.

On my way home i got caught in a cultural taboo.  On Sunday's the Samoan practice something called Sa'a.  I was driving along the main road home and noticed that lining the street from both sides were men dressed in matching yellow shirts.  When i turned down my street one of the men stood in front of my car, when i politely asked him what was going on he just said "Sa'a" to me and gestured to me to wait and turn my car off.  I guess every Sunday evening the church bell rings and everyone in the village stops what they're doing and practice 30 mins of silence.  No driving on side roads, no talking on cell-phones.  The closest thing i can think of that is similar is when in the states we observe moments of silence.  Thankfully, the man understood i was new and got his nephew to come over and explain to me what was happening.  So now i know.....Sa'a taken very seriously, at least in my village.

So in summation it was a great weekend full of amazing experiences and even more amazing people.  Can't wait to see whats in store next....

This dog knows how to live.

First Posting....

Hello,
At the request of my friends back in the US, I have decided to start a blog.  I figured this would be the best way to keep everyone up to date on my adventure in the tiny island territory of American Samoa.  I have moved here to work for the US Dept of Agriculture with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). 

I have been on the island for a week, today actually.  I have to say that it is beautiful here.  The weather is warm, the breeze steady and the people have hearts as big as their waistlines.  The title for the Blog is Palagi in Paradise, I chose this name because Palagi, meaning people of the sky in Samoan ('g' is pronounced 'ng' like in ring) is the term used for white people here on the island.  American Samoa comprises small islands for a total landmass of 119 sq miles.  It is considered a territory of the U.S. so it recieves federal aid and has federal agencies like mine working in it.  But in most other aspects it is its own country (you have to go thru a seperate customs and immigration when you arrive here) and there are people from all over the world that live and work on this little chunk of paradise in the South Pacific.  The island is comprised of volcanoes, some dormant, some active and most settlements are situated along the coast.

My job with the NRCS is to assist producers in implementing conservation on their farmlands.  In American Samoa this involves controlling erosion on steep slopes and improving animal waste and raising facilities for pigs.

Alright, that is enough blabbering, after many requests here are some pictures.....more to come.

My little truck i'm borrowing from my boss

The view from a little village on the top of a mountain, the air is significantly cooler up here.

The view of my office from only a third of the way up the mountain.

Larsons Cove, my planned adventure hike for Saturday