the down side

As exciting as it was to be in Samoa, there were things I was not looking forward to and things that made life somewhat less than enjoyable at times.  In order to not bore you with the really shit parts of my life there, here are just the shit parts!

As mentioned in my last entry, there was plenty of rain while there and it was probably the daily bane of my existence.  Firstly, my room looked like it should have been a laundry because more often than not, I could not hang my clothes outside to dry.  Secondly, rain equated to dirt and dodging pools of water everywhere making it a real effort to go places.  Thirdly, my laptop bag had a hole in it I only discovered on my way over and to make things all the more exciting my umbrella broke my second week there making it useless at protecting my laptop in its holy bag from the rain.  Cool.

One of the sad and irritating aspects of being in Samoa was the people who sell a variety of products on the street, particularly children.  I am acutely aware that I stand out in Samoa and these street sellers who will come up to anyone anywhere any time probably thought I had a healthy stash of money (which I did not).  It breaks my heart when the street sellers are children because I think it is no life for a child.  The majority of the children sellers were ones I recognised from when I was living there 2 years ago.  As for the adult sellers, there were a few characters!  One had the nerve to ask me if I had a cigarette after I declined the purchase of his stencil work while I was on the phone.  Rude.

I find males in Samoa to be generally very forward when it comes to females.  And for some reason, I seemed to have males there being generally very forward with me.  One day in town it was really bad.  Taxi drivers were constantly beeping at me, guys constantly wristing (is that what you call it?) at me and constantly calling out to me - all of which I ignored.  Just before getting in a taxi to go home, I decided to make a last minute stop at the Fugalei market where a guy proceeded to yell rather loudly “I love you baby” at me.  I turned around as I walked away and yelled back “Ai kae”.  I do not think the guy or his friends saw that one coming.  Dick.

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi. 

some kind of summer

I have been in Samoa now for a few months and finally, a blog entry.  I feel like I blinked after the last entry and I was here.  Now that I am in Samoa, I feel like I have been here forever.  The things I was most looking forward to in Samoa were family, food and drink.  Thankfully I haven’t been disappointed!

Vailima has been going down a treat (except when I didn’t eat anything all day till after copious bottles of Vailima at my nephew’s 1^st birthday) and amongst other outings, I have managed to make it to a V Bar Fiesta!  For those that do not know, at Fiesta you drink as much as you can with good company in 2 hours for 30SAT.  I cannot complain!

I love food in Samoa because I can eat everything I do not normally eat in New Zealand.  Sunday is my favourite day because taro and luau are on the menu!  I enjoy being able to go a shop within a 5 minute drive of my house where I can find pani popo, fresh ripe mangos and keke pua’a just to name a few.  After a drink, Siaosi’s is a must for me when there is no food at home, which really means we had elegi.

My family have been great, especially to have put up with me for all these weeks.  They do not seem to be in any rush to get rid of me either!  My family is a big one which means there are lots of children to make me go crazy when they are not making me laugh.  I am constantly grateful for my family who do everything they can to ensure I am happy here.

One thing I was not prepared for in coming to Samoa was the weather.  We had incessant rain for a solid month.  Now I know it is the wet season here, but I never thought it would rain like it has for as long as it has.  With the rain comes the cold and thankfully I arrived with a few items of warm clothing to make life more bearable.  My dreams of a decent tan are dashed unless the weather makes a miracle turn around.  Here’s hoping for some actual summer weather before I depart!

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.