A,E,I,O,U fagalamonu

Talofa all!
Another amazing day in American Samoa!  It was a perfect field day, the sun was out but there was a constant, strong breeze which mean that i only sweated thru 3/4 of my t-shirt rather and all of it.  These last two days we have been hiking up this mountain to certify this group of contracts (i think they're all related).  Anyway, because i have my Samoan Language class
in the afternoons here we've been having to get out and going really early in order to get as much done as possible before my time contrainsts drag me back into the office and off to the college.  We hiked up the easy way, partly because it saves time and also to keep our sanity and wits about us while certifying.  I can see myself being so tired that i just let stuff slide which CANNOT HAPPEN!
Anyways no one cares about work.  The hike was amazing and what a view.  There was a rainshower happening off the coast so you could see the light being refracted across the ocean, it was like a wall of rainbow, quite spectacular.  I think i managed to impress the family with my medicore and i stress mediocre language skills, i got hello, goodbye and sign here!  Still need to figure out bathroom. 

Mila got her first taste of the Camelback today on our hike, which she only felt mildly humiliated about using.

I've been taking this Samoan language class.  The class is fun enough but i think that we are spending far too much time on learning songs.  The teachers who are teaching this class are used to it lasting a whole semester, we only have 2 hours a day for a week (10hrs).  Anyway we were singing this constanant song which goes thru all the samoan consonants (there are only 12 by the way, and 5 vowels), to me it sounded like they were mumbling the beginning part so i just asked what it said and the teacher insisted on going thru the whole thing again.  The whole class looked pissed, i really just wanted to know what she was saying i didn't need the whole song refrained.  But none-the-less its a decent class, its helping me understand the structure of the language which is a third of the battle.  The other third is pronunciation and learning the words, and then i guess the context.  Ok so my math is about as bad as my Samoan, big deal.  I do wish we were going a little faster in the class.  There are some students who are getting it down right away, and others who are taking a little while longer (i.e. me!)

 Went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 last night.  Tuesday nights are cheap movie nights and to be honest its just nice to sit in the A/C for a little while.  I think i've been going to a movie every Tuesday for the last 3 weeks, its sorta become my ritual.  That and my neverending battle with the cockroaches, i've since driven them out of the bathroom, but they've established a beachhead in the bottom left pantry so i plan on striking later tonight.  I gotta get this done cause i think France (aka Jesse) needs their pesticide back.  If this keeps up i might go all Manhattan Project on their asses by calling the terminator, but lets hope it doesn't come to that. 

Well i found out that i won't be getting internet any time soon.  Turns out that my house is not in the line of sight to the internet antenna ontop of the mountain.  Apparently some pesky trees are in my way.  Didn't realize trees had the power to stop internet signal, i learned something today!  Normally i wouldn't be that bummed about this but i sorta am cause i paid them $100 to install this 4 weeks ago and kept getting the runaround from their install department.  Finally they come out just to tell me that they can't do it.  Hmmm, seems to me like while you were waiting for parts you could've come out and have seen if it was even possible first.  but i'm not bitter, you hear me? not bitter.  They said that the broadband will be by my house by the end of June, which will probably mean August with island time (multiply all time frames by 2). 

Alright its time to get out of Carl Jr's.  Excellent food and excellent internet.
More to come.

Rapture!

Hi all, So i know your as upset as i am that the rapture didn't happen.  I decided i would wait until after the supposed date to post my next entry just in case no one was around to read it. 

I apologize for not posting something before.  I still don't have internet after 3.5 weeks of waiting and its starting to piss me off.  It has been an exciting week.  This week Mila and I spent the majority of the week going out and certifying our vegetative barriers that were planned for our EQIP contracts.  Some of the clients installed them poorly and i had to tell them to fix them before i would certify it.  Something i might be more stringent about than my predecessors.  Others baffled me with their ingenuity.  I had one person who used old cardboard boxes to control weeds along his barrier line as a result his vetiver was the best i've seen yet considering it was only installed a couple of weeks ago. Another who was planting it on such a steep slope that in order to keep the grass from slouching, put in anchor points and attached a string between them that serves to keep the grass upright.  I have to say that these types of ideas are so simple and so effective that i am tempted to encourage others to try them.  

One of the more ingenious producers and her son.

Me shooting the slope to confirm that the barrier was installed according to the contour of the slope.

One day Mila and I hiked up a mountain to go and certify one of our producers.  His land was located at the tip of a mountain flat where him and his family grow taro, bananas and coconuts for sustenance and for minimal sale.  After climbing up that beast of a mountain and certifying his lines i was feeling a little lightheaded.  He graciously gave us all coconuts to sit and drink, wow!  That was the best thing i had had in a while.  Not only did it quench my thirst but it envigorated me with energy for the climb back down.  I was later told that marathon runners in Hawaii often drink canned coconut juice because it is filled with electrolytes and gives them a boost for their endurance. I personally really enjoyed the meat that was inside them, totally reminded me of Cambodia although for some reason i remember not really enjoying coconuts while i lived there.  It's strange how you end up liking something only to have grown up not liking it at all.

This last weekend i went for a hike with some of my palagi friends.  It was a relatively easy hike by American Samoa standards but don't let that fool you, it throughly kicked my butt and made me realize how ridiculous out of shape i am.  I think i might have to start exercising a little bit more.  Although i have lost 5 pounds since moving here, probably due to the amount of water my body loses on a regular basis due to sweating.  During that hike by the time we got to to the summit my shirt was completely covered in sweat, it was somewhat disgusting.  I spent the remainder of the evening helping Mila with her resume.  She is debating going back to Las Vegas to be with her husband and other child so i wanted to make sure her resume was as good as possible before she applied for a position there.  Her resume was really good, the only problem was some tenses issues.  

Super pumped about next week, i'm taking a Samoan language class from 1-3 Monday thru Friday.  My boss has been kind enough to allow me to do this on work time which is great!  He said that i probably won't be fluent after just one week but i at least should be able to start understanding the structure and pick up on basic words, which is what i'm hoping for.  The language is rather confusing, there are multiple ways to say the same word to have a different meaning.  Its not like chinese where you alternate the inflections to mean something else.  Here's a good example.  Fa'a Mole Mole means please in Samoan well in a fit of confusing i said Fa'a Mule Mule which means butt (like your behind).  Then Mila told me that if you just say Mole Mole it means smooth so i said Fa'a Mole Mole, Mole Mole, Muley Muley or please smooth butt.  Suffice it to say that had her rolling for a good part of the day! Well with that little snafu i will leave you.  More later.

My amazing co-worker Mila, without who not only would i not be able to do my job but probably go insane with boredom at work on some days.  She's an awesome gal, so friendly and eager.  Its kinda bothersome because you feel like your optimism is nothing compared to hers.

Ta'u, Ofu and Olosega

 

Hey everyone!  So i had the awesome experience of going to the outer islands of Ta'u, Olosega and Ofu last week.  We had to fly in this dinky little plane and land on a runway that ends way to quickly.  It was surprising, we (my coworker and I) didn't have to go through any sort of security whatsoever.  In fact, the only security i saw was them rifling through my checked baggage to see if there was anything hidden in there but no metal detector, no x-ray.  I guess no one really cares about small planes going to these islands.  

So we had to fly to Ta'u because the runway on Ofu was damaged from an earthquake.  Ta'u is the biggest of the outer island  chain and according to legend it is where Samoan culture first began.  It is essentially one massive dome that contains 3 main settlements.  As you can imagine this place is pretty remote, there aren't that many cars and unlike Tuituila (the main island) no buses to take you around. Mila and I were only there for 24 hours and just to get some contracts signed.  But it was fun none-the-less, i can't wait to get back there in July for some more serious sightseeing.  We were picked up my Keli who works for Land Grant and is sort of the guide for federal workers on this remote island.  He picked us up and took us to the wharf where we boarded a tiny little fishing boat to travel across the channel to Ofu.  The water was pretty rough so the trip took about 1.5 hours.  Along the way you could see flying fish popping out of the water and cruising across the surface before ducking back in again.  Ofu and Olosega are two seperate islands but their proximity to each other allows for a bridge between the two (see the picture).  We got our signatures and needed to get back to Ta'u before nightfall so we boarded the boat again.  It was pretty funny being treated like the prince of england by these big Samoan men thinking that it was somehow necessary for them to help me onto a boat.  All of these guys got into the water and steered the boat clear of the reef so that we didn't run aground. 

Poor Mila got lifted up and right as she nearly made it onto the boat a big wave came and inundated her.  She's was a good sport about it though.  On the way back, the seas were much rougher so you had to hold on to something and you pretty much got sprayed with seawater the whole time.  On the ride back the men operating the boat decided to do some fishing.  They were catching what looked like Tuna to me they kept calling it Aku and when i asked what the English name for it was they replied Bandito, which i knew was wrong cause it looked like Tuna but i let it slide.  I looked it up when we got back and sure enough it was Skipjack Tuna.  They caught 8 of them so for dinner that night guess what we ate?  If you sear it and then get some soy and wasabi dipping sauce it can taste really, really good.  I've yet to find a place on Tuituila that sells Tuna aside from the occasional store which is sporadic and roadside vendors who only seem to have it some of the time. 

Keli let us stay at Land Grants house near the Highschool in Ta'u which was alright, except for that no one told me that there wouldn't be a bed (if i had known i probably would've packed my camping gear).  So as a result that wasn't the best night sleep.  The following morning we did a mini tour of the island and picked up a stranger who turned out to be a really nice guy and of course started talking about religion which is always fun.  He was also heading back to Pago Pago.  Caught our flight at noon and then the flight back was only like 20 mins.  And then it was back to work.  

My shipment finally arrived, so i finally have decorations and my tv and game systems.  My bike came as well but i think the quick release mechanism for the front wheel got lost somewhere in the moving process. Still waiting for internet, they said the would come sometime this week so hopefully they're right.  Well that's all for now.  Till next time.