Bug Hunt

Ethan and I came home from work completely starving. We opted for an easy pasta dinner....but nothing ever goes quite right in Samoa. I took out the box of pasta and laid it on the counter before turning away to get something else. When I looked back the box was crawling with little bugs. Weevil-like-creepy-crawlies had stolen our pasta and made it their home and feasting grounds. I chunked the box in the trash, and Ethan grabbed a new box of pasta....but, of course, they had discovered it too....and the other 3 boxes. Some of the boxes were filled with the buggers. They weren’t little tiny weevils, though. They were much, much larger little devils. But in the way of Samoa, we didn’t want to waste all of our food. (Things are expensive on this Rock!) So, we choose the pasta with the least amount of bugs and just picked them out.....This is what life has come to.......picking through pasta boxes full of bugs and choosing the least infested...yum! 

I spent the next 10 minute stalking the counter for the bugs that didn’t make it into the trash and were trying to seek refuge elsewhere in the kitchen. I got a lot of joy out of singing a little bug killing tune and smashing there bodies flat. That’s what they get for eating 5 boxes of my food!  

FaFa Pageant

This Saturday night was the island’s Fafafine Pageant. The fafafine are part of the island’s transgender culture, and they frequently hold pageants. This one lived up to the usual pageant reputation: crazy outfits, oiled escort men, jumps into the pool, and a whole lot of panty hose to hold everything in. One of the early entertainment numbers set the tone for the night when she ramped up her performance by jumping into the pool (with a white shirt and mini skirt on) and offering a little synchronized swimming number. The move wasn’t totally thought out since the stage was built over the water and was pretty high.. the led to many failed attempts getting out. She finally threw one leg over the edge and ungracefully plopped herself back up. It got the audience rolling. As with drag shows, most of the night included lip sync numbers. As time went on, each candidate tried to out do the others which led to a lot of panty flashes. And what pageant is complete without a swimsuit number. Yup, the fafafines paraded in bikinis. Thankfully they somehow managed to keep everything tucked and secured! After all the votes were in, Pearl (age 39) was proclaimed the island queen. She wasn’t my favorite since Keisha, my vote, did the splits about 400 times throughout the night. Until the next pageant I will leave you this image...  

Vali Samasama

Ethan and I spent the week painting and revamping the back office area of the PiCED building. We have 4 new employees starting on Monday, and 3 of them will be occupying the back area. But, it was bleak and ugly and a mess, and we couldn’t imagine having to work back there. Having studied architecture, Ethan and I know what a world of a difference a nice space can do for enthusiasm, work ethic, and general happiness, so we decided to revamp the place. We agreed on a bright, fresh yellow paint (vali lanu samasama) for the walls, and repainted all the trim and doors a bright white. There were lots of unused/old books stored in the area, so we took them all down and reorganized. All the teacher resource books were moved to a new bookshelf in the front, and many of the unused children books were donated to an elementary school. After the books were down, we took down an old shelf, and repainting the others white to match the trim. With a little rearranging, new carpentry additions to the furniture, and paint, the are looks pretty darn good! Now that everyone has seen what a little TLC can do to an old office, I think it has inspired us (and the PiCED Staff) to slowly makeover the PiCED office! 

Bunny Salute

Last week we conducted interviews to fill 4 new positions at PiCED. The morning of the interviews Ethan, Ruth, and I were joking around with ways to intimidate/freak out the candidates. Ethan thought he might talk to an Edward (of Twilight) poster as if he was a real person. Then Ruth suggested we wear bunny ears but act as if nothing was unusual. We liked this idea but had no bunny ears so we improvised and faked them with our hands. Of course, out of true professionalism, we would never actually be that silly...not. Ruth and I’s interviews finished about 10 minutes before the other groups, so we decided to entertain ourselves. We walked out of my office and paraded to the kitchen with bunny ears. We made sure Ethan and Nape could see us, but not the person they were interviewing. Needless to say, Nape cracked up and Ethan broke into a smile. Pule got back from running errands just in time and we gave her the task of walking past them with bunny ears too. Even Sandra added to the fun when she dropped by. She kept her face stern and serious as she walked around the office with bunny ears. Our mission was accomplished...

Thus, the PiCED office has officially adopted the “bunny salute” as our official greeting. Rather than putting in our hands at the end of the meeting and chanting “Goooo Team!” we bunny salute. It’s what we do.

The PiCED Fam

As you may have gathered, I heart working at PiCED. People always dream of having a job that you love to get up and go to in the morning, and so far I’ve got that. Work is fun... probably because I truly love what I’m doing, the cause I am working for, and the people I work with. We are so fortunate to be part of an awesome group of co-workers. Everyone is unbelievably nice and extremely hardworking and responsible (something that can be quite hard to find on island)! And, luck for us, they have accepted and welcomed us with open arms. Immediately we felt like part of the group!

Ruth!

Ruth was Ethan’s best bud and fellow student services coordinator, but she was only with us for a month before heading off to law school in California. We nicknamed her Makilaki... Ethan forgot how to pronounce her last name and made up the first Samoan sounding thing he could come up with... and she had all the sass Ethan could ask for in a work buddy! We miss Ruth!

Pule! 

Pule is our awesome Office Manager, and I’ve adored her ever since she pole danced and took shots like a 21 year old at our Talofa/Tofa party. She’s the sweetest, and we’ve promised to open up a secret Millionaires’ Matchmaking service in the back of PiCED so we can find her a deserving, hunky, rich man! Her daughter, Lili, and nephew, Nathan, are the bomb. Both in 7th grade, they hang out around PiCED everyday after school and teach us Samoan....Nathan recently taught me the very important phrase, “E mana’o a’u ise vali lanu samasama!”.....This translates to “I would like yellow paint.” What would I ever do without that phrase!? 

Nape!

Nape is our receptionist that will one day conquer all of Samoa....ok, maybe she won’t conquer it but she has the brains and ability to do something pretty awesome. Nape makes me laugh, teaches me about the culture, and helps me gang up on Ethan! She’s our Leone homegirl, and I hope we will continue to hang out with her (and her bf Sami) a lot. 

Moe, Dora, and Nometa!

Moe, Dora, and Nometa make up the ASPIRC (Parent Information Resource Center) division for PiCED. They handle all the parent trainings and PIRC Parent Centers scattered around the villages on island. The girls (Dora and Nometa) seem to always be smiling and happy...and this, in turn, makes me happy. Dora’s 9 year old daughter, Lovie, has also proclaimed me the best friend she’s ever had. This also makes me happy. (It’s also probably not that hard to score well in her book, as she told me that her brothers like to pick on her.....last night they locked her out of the house and made her sleep outside in the cold.....talo fie (poor girl)!) Ethan and I have nicknamed Moe Father Earth. He is very Godly and makes you want to be a better person. He’s the sweetest man and is ridiculously soft spoken. He truly exemplifies a Samoan elder....in a slightly Americanized way.......because he wears slacks to work everyday instead of the Samoan i’e fitaga (formal man skirt). We want Moe to take us in and teach us the true ways of fa’asamoa. 

Earl 

Earl is our IT Manager and the only other palagi at PiCED. He’s very friendly and I think that he’s really happy that Ethan and I (but especially Ethan) know computer lingo, as he can explain what he’s up to and working on and we legitly understand and can be impressed. 

Ritah!

Ritah is also super cool. She works in the computer labs in the evening and has some rad tattoos. She’s trying really hard to convince me to partake in Samoan culture and get tatted up too. (Don’t worry, mom...I haven’t done it yet!) 

We’ve got 4 new staff members starting this week so I’ll let you know if they meet the high standard of PiCED’s awesomeness.

Part of the office: Ethan, Sandra, Nape, Me, Ruth, Earl, Pule

Radio Star

Get in line for my autograph, because I’m Samoa’s latest radio star! Don’t worry, your ears won’t bleed. I’m not singing! :) As part of my gig of being “the face of PiCED,” I record all of our radio ads. So, 10 times a week on KSB and 5 times a day, 5 days a week on KHJ you can tune and hear my silky, smooth voice (ha!) update you on all of PiCED’s latest. It’s always really awkward to be riding in the car, jamming to a good song, and then go to commercial and hear my own voice. Ethan and I frequently have radio dial wars as I fight to turn down the volume and he struggles to embarrass me by turning it way up.....It’s tough being in the limelight :)

Besides radio ads I will occasionally go on the morning show to talk about a special program. Before recording my ads I was part of a quick live-on-air meet and greet to introduce me as the new PiCED gal. So like I said, get in line quick before my autographs cost you :) 

SAT 10 Sadness

Sandra called up on our first solo weekend for a surprise bit of work. She needed us to compile some data and interpret the results. The kids on island take the SAT (pronounced “sat”) 10 standardized test each year to gauge their grade level equivalency. Since I taught in the system last year, I am aware of how bad the school system is, but it’s always an extra little shock to see the hard numbers. We graphed the results for 4th-8th grade of a private school (which is better off than the public schools) and the data is saddening. Across the board 80-90 percent of the students were way below grade level in each of the different content areas. The problem is that school leaders receive the scores after the test, recognize how poorly the students are performing, and then hide the results out of embarrassment. We need the schools to step up, publicly admit the state of the system, and then actively work to make drastic improvements. Unfortunate that probably won’t happen across the board. 

OCE Training

Yesterday we finished off a two day training session with the Office of Catholic education teachers. We were asked to kick off their orientation week with our Effective Teacher training courses. Sandra presented on Monday with a talk on Effective Schools and Total Instructional Alignment, and Tuesday was mine to cover Lesson Mastery. Since coming to Samoa to teach, I’ve learned a lot about educational theory and best practices, and I believe it’s important to share these ideas with the Samoan teachers. My of the island’s teachers hold the job simply because it offers a steady paycheck- they don’t particularly love children, or their subject, or teaching in an form or facet. Another section of the teacher population wants to do a good job, but they lack the education and training to know how to run an effective classroom. I’ve come to realize that what our teachers need most is not the theory but rather the practical tools and tips to help them get through their day and get through to their students. I formatted my presentation to include just that, the practical methods, strategies, and activities that work with Samoan kids who require a special set of instructional practices. Overall the workshop was a very rewarding experience. It was another was to help me get over more of my public speaking nerves.... speaking in front on 80 Samoan teachers makes my palms sweat a bit :) and I think that my lessons and general message really made an impact. Many of the teachers stopped on their way out to thank me for the workshop, but a very kind Sister left me with some thought provoking words, “Don’t go back to architecture, right here in education is where you need to stay.” It was heart warming to hear that she enjoyed the training but it builds upon the pile of reasons that lead me to believe that I will stay in education.

All Alone in Fa’ilolo

Last night we said good bye to Scott and Taylor who are headed back to Georgia. Ethan and I are all alone in our house in Fa’ilolo. I didn’t sleep much at all..... Our house has a history of ghosts and creepy encounters. I never really believed in ghosts... but neither did Scott and Taylor until a few incidents last fall..... Since our village is tiny and quiet and the roar of the ocean is loud, it can feel really lonely and isolated. The house is also very creaky... lots of unexplained noises. The doors continually squeak open and closed and sometime bang shut when there doesn’t seem to be a breeze. My imagination seemed to get the best of me last night and I caught myself cautiously hiding under the covers for safely. Let’s hope there will be no scary visitors in the future.  

Talofa/Tofa Party

The end of our 1st week concluded with a massive celebration. Sandra (the Director and Founder of PiCED) and her husband Pete decided to throw a party with 3 goals: (1) to welcome Ethan and I into the PiCED family (2) to welcome the new World Teach group to the island and (3) to say farewell to Scott, Taylor, and Ruth who are all leaving PiCED to head to the Mainland. Our Talofa (Hello) / Tofa (Good-Bye) Party was a complete success. Sandra and Pete take good parties seriously and didn’t disappoint. Lots of spirits were drank and fun was had. It was a great chance to get to know the new World Teach crew (Ethan and I joked that we were interviewing for new best friends) and bond with our new co-workers. When all was said and done, there were many empty cups, bodies jumping into the pool, and shoes lost. That’s right, after only a week on island, Ethan lost a pair of his new flip-flops! Cheers to many more fun night to come with new, good friends!