On my own...

Now that I finally got my laptop that means more pictures! I found some old one and new ones for you viewing entertainment. First week in my very own house has been interesting and im not at all lonely because I have tons of friends living with me in the form of lizards, ants, a huge rat, and cockroaches! Yeah! No its cool though. I had one funny moment when I was getting in my shower (which is a tin box with a pipe that shoots water out of the top) and I turned the water on and this tiny little gecko shot out onto my arm. He kinda looked up at me with these big eyes like "What the F*$% just happened?" and I kinda yelped and then continued to laugh at myself for the next 10 min. At least it wasnt a snake.
At any rate, school starts monday! Would be nervous, but I dont think I will be teaching at all this week since the first week is usually meetings while the kids do ground work. On top of that Im not sure if my principle is even back from New Zealand yet. Anywho, enjoy the pics. If anyone feels the need to send a package I need spices like I need oxygen. It costs $11 tala for a small bottle of cloves here! Im just saying....
This was when I could finally unpack my bags aka move into my house! This also meant that I could finally open all my christmas and birthday presents! I tried to get everything in there, but some stuff didnt quite fit. It was a fun merry little christmas all to myself. Living alone and existing in a state of nothingness has caused me to create all sorts of fun new ways to entertain myself. On Thursday night Meghan came to spend the night and was caught off guard when I was discussing the rules of my house with the cockroaches in the kitchen. What was even more disturbing was that I didnt find it wierd until she pointed it out...
This was the amazing and glorious last sunset in the world in 2006 in Savaii that I have been bragging so much about. Not bad ehh?
This is in Maasina right after I had blown the conch shell for lotu. Every evening in every village there is about a 20 min lotu or time for prayer where everyone has to go inside and pray. In Maasina our family is in charge of blowing the conch shell to signal everyone to go inside and then again after about 20 min to signal the end of lotu.
77 girls before our Fiafia with the village. And its true that if Peace Corps doesnt work out for us, we have thought about pursuing a 4-some modeling career.
This was our culture day during training. The boys were all hiking up the mountain to the plantation while the girls busied themselves scrapping papayas and peeling bananas. In this pic I am scrapping a coconut, which is usually a man's job hence the two men watching me intentily so I dont screw it up. The big guy inside the hut is Fiafia (means happy in Samoan) and is pretty much my hero. The other guy is the mayor of Maasina. After the coconuts are scrapped they wring out the shavings to make coconut cream which is put on pretty much everything.