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