kiss me, i'm irish.

Even though the Rugby World Cup pool matches are over, I want to take you back to the night of September 17, when Ireland rose victorious against the Wallabies.

It had not occurred to me to make the concerted effort to watch the game, and it was only the enthusiasm of a friend's fiancée that turned my attention to the television.  I was thinking to myself, why would I want to watch a game where it is not my beloved Manu Samoa playing?

In the early stages of the game it was quite obvious the household would have been happy with any winner on the night, as long as it was not Australia, which suited me just fine being loyal to the land of my birth.

At half-time, the game was locked 6-6 and I could feel some part of my being unfurling.  Then when the final whistle blew, I sat back in my chair with a sense of elation, not because Australia had been defeated.  No, I was elated because Ireland had won.

Amidst all the screaming and cheering and frightening my two-year-old niece (who did not know whether to laugh or cry staring at all the crazed adults in the room) an apple came crashing from the sky, smacking me nicely in the head.  I remembered, during of all things, a rugby game, that I have Irish blood running though my veins too.  Truly I do.

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.

today is the day

It has been quite some time since I last posted on my blog and while I should be sleeping, I have decided what better time to resurface in the blog world than today - the day the Rugby World Cup 2011 begins!  There is without a doubt something in the air.  I sense something very big is going to come to fruition which is nothing short of exciting!

One of the reminders the Rugby World Cup is happening in my own backyard is the multitude of flags everywhere.  If there was a prize for the most flags waving around from one country, Tonga would take it out!  Last week I saw a van with at least 10 Tongan flags attached!  And the only reason I know my neighbours are Tongan is because of the flags on their porch and roof top.  Sadly my own Samoan flag is nowhere near big enough to give them a run for their money!

This Rugby World Cup I am probably the most excited I have ever been about Manu Samoa participating.  In particular, I am excited to be going to the Manu vs Fiji game - my first time at a real live test match.  I will be wearing my Manu jersey proudly!  And Te Karere had a segment on the amazing welcome the Manu team received from Te Arawa in Rotorua in the lead up to their game against Namibia on Wednesday.  The Manu team has much promise and I wish them nothing but the best in this competition. 

Also in news headlines is the 42nd Pacific Islands Forum taking place in Auckland.  I heard John Key's intention was to have the forum coincide with the Rugby World Cup to give it more of a Pacific flavour.  Since learning about the effects of climate change on the Pacific, it has been a topic I place great importance on.  Hopefully discussions around the the reality of how vulnerable the Pacific is right now when it comes to climate change brings about more awareness on an international level.

The only thing left to say for now is GO MANU!

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.

get it right

This morning I woke up around 3 having slept all day yesterday recovering from food poisoning.  Feeling rather refreshed, the last thing I felt like doing was going back to sleep, opting instead for turning on the telly and navigating the blog world.  At around 5am I was vaguely aware of episode 23 of The Erin Simpson Show blaring in the background - a show I have watched before out of curiosity rather than interest.  The first time I watched the show, Tomasi Cama was a guest and my lasting memory of the show was not the irritating theme song or Erin's bleached hair or the food being cooked by the guest chef.  It was Erin saying Tomasi's surname wrong.

One of my pet peeves is people on New Zealand television who continually mispronounce Polynesian names and words (why I am bothered, I will save for another post).  I was that bothered by hearing Erin's mispronunciation of Tomasi's name being said to his face, that I tweeted "Someone needs to school @erinsimpson on a bit of gagana Fiki .. it's pronounced THama NOT Kama.Get it right." to which she replied "thanks - its impossible to everything right, ill get it next time xx".

As dubious as I was about Erin getting it next time, especially since she couldn't even tweet me properly, she did, much to my surprise, take my advice and got it right.  This morning, while the rest of my household slept, I wanted to laugh and do a celebratory dance as the sound of Erin Simpson's voice filled my ears with the name Tomasi Cama the way it is meant to be said!

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.

here fishy fishy fishy ..

I can now reluctantly say I am in my late 20's and recently I found myself at a 21st birthday feeling really REALLY old.  I was more interested in the food (only because I was broke and it was Filipino food I eat an average of once a year), I was not going to town on the party bus with all the 21 year olds and I got asked by a 21 year old (in a committed relationship with a child) why someone of my age and pretty was not at home with my husband and children.  And by the way, this is the second time in 2 months I have been asked why I am old young-ish, free and single.  Now I am starting to wonder, if there are plenty of fish in the sea, then where is my .. fish?

Did I have him and now he is gone?
Have I met him and just don't know it?
Is he yet to walk in to my life?
Or am I destined to become a nun?

I don't think I am a high maintenance kind of girl with a list a mile long on what I must have in my ideal man.  My list only consists of 4 points thus far!  Someone who thinks he is God's gift to me and me alone, is as tall as me or taller and is a Samoan who speaks at least Samoan AND English!  Is that really too much to ask?

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.

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. 

samoa musings

In several weeks I will be off to Samoa, spending Christmas and New Years there.  While I am looking forward to my pending travel, my feelings at this stage are a little mixed.  I am, of course excited about the prospect of spending Christmas somewhere other than New Zealand.  On the other hand, when you have lived in New Zealand for as long as I have, it can be easy to romanticise all that Samoa has to offer.  Even though there a few little negatives I have roaming around in my head, I rest in the knowledge that I will be going well prepared (packing and otherwise), having spent enough time in Samoa to feel confident that everything, in the end, will be fine.  Over the next few weeks I will post on what I am excited about, what I am not excited about and some of my hopes I have for my time in Samoa.

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi. 

tweet tweet .. tweet tweet ..

This morning was a delightfully busy one around town, running errands and running into people .. thankfully people I was happy to meet!  When I got home with all errands complete including extras I did not expect to tick off, I ate my lunch, found out my best friend's boyfriend left her, flossed my teeth for the first time in probably a year (disgusting!), brushed my teeth, then sat down to say hello to my Twitter friends.

The only problem with saying hello to my Twitter friends is Twitter is not working properly!  While I can faikala, I cannot tweet back.  Very frustrating!  I never thought I would say this, but I think I have a small problem .. yeah right!  I could totally give up Twitter if I really wanted to .. .. ..

That said, in an attempt to feel like I have responded to my fellow Twits (is that what they are called?) here is what I have to say ..

@Samoan_Prince Did you go to work or are you slacking off like me?Shhhh .. it can be our secret :)

@LisaahAurelia SHUT UP with your photos .. they are fantastic and did I mention I hate you!Hahaha ..

@swisshamo LMBO @ "HELL TO THE NO" .. I'll start reading next year because I do not want to take all them books to the Islands!Why read when I can be drinking and getting a tan!

@maloana LMBO @ #redwine .. check this out http://whatscookingamerica.net/Menu/FormalDinnerSetting.jpg

@maloana @Pacific_Soul I don't think I have been suspended .. what does that mean anyway?I have not changed my username and definitely have not blocked anyone .. #honest!

@maloana @swisshamo @Pasifrika Does who tweet?I can't see what that tweet was about because Twitter is not working!

@sleeping_beutie WELCOME BACK!I emailed you to explain my absence :) And poor Vaniah .. you should teach her how to tweet and call it 'bonding time' ..

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.

it does matter if you are brown or white

Monday morning saw Breakfast host Paul Henry questioning New Zealand Prime Minister John Key as to whether or not Governor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand was a New Zealander, and whether the next Governor-General was going to look and sound more like a New Zealander.  From this, two vocal camps have emerged - those in support of Henry (particularly after being put on a two-week suspension without pay, even after a public apology), and those screaming for blood.  Then there is the gaping majority who don't seem to give a toss!

I will be one of the first to admit I am a Paul Henry fan.  I even tweeted my love for him after his People's Choice Award acceptance speech at the 2010 Qantas Film and Television Awards!  I became a Paul Henry fan earlier this year because A. I started watching Breakfast semi-regularly  B. He is funny and a bit dorky  C. He is not reluctant in sharing his opinions and is prepared to back it or back off, and D. I find the other Breakfast host Pippa Wetzell somewhat boring and Tamati Coffey rather irritating.  While I do think the comments made by Henry were inappropriate, I do not think them inappropriate enough to terminate his contract with TVNZ.

In my eyes, Henry's words are a very real reflection of the view of a number in New Zealand society, both young and old - if you fall outside the category of white middle-upper class and do not speak Kiwi, or Posh-Kiwi for that matter, you have no real claim to belonging to New Zealand.  As much as people in this country are in disbelief that racism like this could and should exist here, the fact remains, racism, in its many forms, is happily rearing its ugly head in Godzone.

And if you don't believe me then just talk to the drunk palagi I saw a few years back aggressively yelling racial slander at anyone walking by who did not mirror his dirty pink skin, or the naive palagi teenagers on my bus last month playing "Spot the Coconut" accompanied with an abundance of sniggers, or the fat-mouth-palagi I met through work blatantly admitting she is racist, or the drug-fucked palagi neighbour three houses down telling my mother to go back to where she came from.  I could go on, but I won't.

All this talk has me coming up with more questions than answers .. When are people going to stop shooting at Paul Henry as if he is the only racist in this country and look at the bigger picture? .. In New Zealand today, how are the seeds for an environment of basic understanding and respect for people from all walks of life nurtured? .. How do I learn to love the aggressive drunks, the naive teenagers, the fat-mouths and the drug-fucked despite their lack of love for me?

This is me - Teine 'Afakasi.