As of March 14 I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer for 3 months, which is exciting because now I can officially leave the country! Which is pretty neato except I lack the time and the money to go anywhere, but the idea is pretty cool nonetheless. After being in Samoa for a total of 5 months the last 2 weeks have surprisingly provided a lot of 'firsts' for me. Last Saturday and Wednesday I went kayaking for the first time at Salani surf camp about a fifteen minute bike ride from my village. It was soooo beautiful. Their kayaks are open tops and I went out and played in the ocean for a little bit where you have a gorgeous view of the mountains on land and the water is crystal clear and there are tons of beautiful coral all around. While I was kayaking I saw a reef shark for the first time which was really sweet. They are fairly small and I was so excited to see one that I actually tried to follow it. I also saw a stingray try to do an impression of a dolphin by jumping out of the water about 10 feet in front of me and flapping around attempting (or so it seemed to me) to be beautiful and graceful and then proceeded to crash into the water in an awkward belly flop. That was also a first and fairly comical as well.
I had my first Mormon missionary invasion…I mean discussion with two white guys from the states who are stationed here. They came to my house last week to talk to me about the Mormon religion for 3 hours…you got that right? 3 hours? Yeah, so that was…interesting.
I also experienced my first St. Patrick’s day in Samoa…if you would like details you should probably ask someone else.
I was also pooped on by a baby for the first time which was rather exciting. I went to visit my Samoan family last week and little Sally, who is about 1 year old, came running up to me with her hands up yelling “Lola, Lola, Lola!” And being in a good kid-loving mood, I scooped her up and put her on my hip and was dancing around and playing with her when all of the sudden I smelled something a bit…foul. So I put her down and realized that A) she didn’t have a diaper on and B) there were now brown stains all over the shirt I was wearing where Sally’s bottom had previously been. This might sound disturbing to some of you at home, but the part that I found most disturbing was that I actually debated if I wanted to go home and change or not. The thought, “its not that bad I guess” actually crossed through my mind before I caught myself and said “self your covered in baby $h*t you need to go home and change.” So that was fun…
At any rate, besides mormons and poop things are going quiet nicely. I am still coaching the soccer team at our school, although I think I am just in charge of the girls now which is interesting. Im excited that they are actually letting the girls play since you don’t really see girls playing much sport here, but you can def tell that that is the case with our soccer team. One girl just runs after the ball and kicks her legs out like a weed whacker and when someone is in front of her she continues with this performance and just plows through people not only knocking them over, but actually running over them as well. Its quiet impressive. Her lack of body control kind of reminds me of….well me at that age (anyone who saw me try to play basketball at the age of 10 would know that I found it physically impossible to stay on 2 feet for more than 5 minutes at a time, true story).
Well, Im off to be important...to someone...somewhere...aka sit in the office and enjoy air conditioning. Hope all is well. Kisses and coconuts.

oh no ive gone crosseyed

Samoa is a very strange place. A place of endless summer and carbohydrates. A place that changes you the minute you walk off the airplane. A place that makes your english deteriorate. A place where it is pointless to wear a watch and no one cares what time you show up or if you show up. A place where fashion is a different colored t-shirt with less dirt on it. Take it or leave it, its a funny place.
So the last few weeks have been...i dont even think there is a word to describe the last couple of weeks. I am working on settling in at my school and getting used to certain things such as certain "discplinary techniques" that are a bit different than what I was raised with. After the first 3 weeks of school the year 8 teacher (I work in a primary school so there are years 1-8, and we orginally had 6 teachers but one was in new zealand the first week of school and I think she is still going to be coming back tomorrow...) stopped coming to school. He was very sick, but supposed to come back and never really did. So for a few weeks I had year 7 and 8 which was a lot of fun because they were good kids and a lot of the year 8 girls have very good english and helped me along when I didnt know certain Samoan words. Sidenote, most of my year 7 kids know very little english. When I gave them a little quiz the first day a couple of them answered the question "How old are you" with "I am very well today thank you."
At any rate, the matais in our village decided that year 8 needed to be taught by our principle much to my sadness. So currently there is one teacher for year 1,2, and 3, one teacher for year 4,5, and 6, Im teaching year 7 with 8 kids and my principal teaches year 8. Makes total sense...
At any rate, my kids are funny and cheeky and loving nothing more than playing the hand slap game "down by the banks of the hanky panky."
This week at morning assembly my principal was talking to the kids in Samoan about soccer teams or something and I was only half paying attention, but then I heard her say, "yes and Lola will be your coach." Aaawwhhhaaat? So you can call me coach hanks from now on. We had our first practice on friday and it was all of the kids year 4-8 which was pretty ridiculous. The year 7 and 8 boys were actually pretty good and I got to run around with them a little which was fun to do in barefeet and the pouring down rain.
In Samoan family news, my my mom in Tafatafa just had her 4th baby, a little boy named Fo'i. They came back from the hospital on Thurs and I went over there to see him. Big old boy with a head full of hair. Mom looks pretty beat so I hope they let her rest for a few days, she is all of about 5 years older than me.
Last monday I went crab catching with my family at night on our beach. One of the more hilarious experiences I have had here. A bunch of us loaded in the back of a pick up truck stopped and picked up some donuts and headed down to the beach where half of us trudged off down toward where the lava rocks are, while the other half stayed at the beach fales drinking koko Samoa and eating donuts. So heres how it happens. My "aunt" has this big old flashlight she shines under rocks and the kids i.e. my brothers and sisters aged between 13-24, go after these huge crabs by either smashing their hands down on top of these suckers or crabbing them behind the pinchers under the rock and dragging them out. The they take these big old things and dump them in a rice sack. Awesome. The next night we boiled all the crabs in a big pot of coconut cream, onions, and salt. Wow.
So the goods are goods and the lows are low, but what did you expect? I hope all is good in the "real world" out there. I heard that some people from group 78 Peace Corps Samoa just found out they will be coming out here in June 2007. If you happen to be reading this and just learned that you will spending the next two years of your life working Peace Corps Samoa starting in June, feel free to leave a post or email me with any questions or concerns. I can def help you with the packing list because the Peace corps packing list is only soso really.
Alright enough of that, love and kisses to you all. No worries here, only going a little crazy and could use some cold weather and a mom hug, other than that just gotta leave them laughing when you go...