I Have Arrived.

I am happy to report that I have arrived in Samoa all in one piece, although a bit worse for wear!

My grand adventure began with a bang in Bellingham airport when they decided to search one of my bags - the one with all the "junk" in it. That bag took me two whole days to get packed so everything would fit and still meet the size requirements. I watched in horror as they emptied it out one item at a time. At one point the screener make a comment that maybe they should have taken a picture first - just what I needed to hear to make me feel confident that they could get it all back in.

Having passed that hurdle I continued on to LA where I spent Sunday night, thru Tuesday. I met the other 15 members of my group and we all had a great time getting acquainted. I am not the oldest either! There is a man who is 5 weeks older than I am and his wife is right up there too so I guess when the college age antics get to be a bit much I will have them to hang out with.

Our flight from LA was scheduled to leave at 8:45pm Tuesday night but was delayed so we didn't actually get out until midnight. In the interim, having been evicted from our rooms, we wandered around like lost souls without a home. We left for the airport at 5:30pm for an 11:45pm flight - again, hours of waiting! By now it was past bedtime and I was getting tired so I figured I wouldn't have any problem sleeping on the plane and would arrive in Samoa rested and ready to go. Nope!! Ten hours of sitting in a cramped little seat without sufficient leg room for anyone over 5'4" is difficult enough, but trying to sleep in it is virtually impossible. I may have gotten a total of 3 hours sleep during the whole 10 hour flight.

We arrived in total darkness at 5:45am Samoa time, staggered off the plane (down the steps onto the tarmac) and into the "terminal" where we collected our bags and went through customs. No problems there thank goodness. We were greeted at the airport by about 30 current volunteers carrying a big welcome sign and presenting us each with a lei. Then we had a photo shoot, loaded up into PC vehicles and headed for town. By now it was getting light (there doesn't seem to be any dawn or dusk here. It's either dark or it's light - not much in between) so we got to see the countryside and surroundings on the way. It really is spectacularly beautiful! And there are flowers everywhere - so pretty. The current volunteers climbed into the buses with us and rode along so we got to talk to them and find out a bit of what we had gotten ourselves into.

When we got to the hotel we figured they would let us have a nap before beginning our day - hah! Thirty minutes to get settled in our rooms then breakfast and then our first session. At 11:30am (which seemed like 9:00pm to all of us since we'd had no sleep) they presented us all- men and women both- with matching lavalava's which are sarong type skirts, explained what a traditional Ava Ceremony is and how we were to behave, and marched us back onto the buses to go to the ceremonial fale' for the formal welcome to Samoa. I had my first experience with sitting cross-legged on the floor! My back did fine but my feet went to sleep after a while. Fortunately women are allowed to shift their feet to one side or the other and I was able to bring them back to life. I don't know what the guys do - they are not allowed to change position.

Next was lunch then a quickie language lesson of common everyday expressions. I wish I could tell you what some of them are but I was so tired by then that all I wanted to know how to say was "Can I go to bed now?" Next up on the agenda was a tour of Apia, the capitol city where we are staying until June 17th. It really is a fascinating place. There are some of the oldest most magnificent churches I have ever seen anywhere. There is a huge open air veggie market right around the corner from our hotel, there are new modern skyscrapers being built along the waterfront, there is a flea market downtown where it is rumored you can buy anything. But above it all rises these incredibly green hills that are actually volcanic cones covered in lush tropical vegetation. You can see patches on the sides of the hill that appear to be a concentration of a particular kind of tree, different from the rest on the hill. I am told that these are the plantations where cocoanuts, papayas, or breadfruit are being grown. Speaking of exotic plants, I had my first taste of taro at dinner our first night. Strange stuff, but not bad. I guess there are a lot of ways to fix it. And of course any description wouldn't be complete without mentioning the water, the beach, and the reefs. It was a beautiful day and we got some pictures that I will try to get posted as soon as I figure out the whole internet cafe thing.

Anyway, after dinner we finally got to go to bed. What a relief. I woke up this morning to my first real day in Samoa, and I haven't changed my mind yet. I'm staying.!! A bit about our hotel. I could describe it as a good Grade B hotel. It is clean, air conditioned and we have hot and cold running water. I share a room with a gal who is here to do the Integrated Coastal Management program. She has quite a bit of experience working with Marine Science projects and has spent a lot of time on the Olympic Penninsula AND around Deception Pass! Small world

We spent all day today in training sessions but at lunch time J and I went shopping. We went to Mr. LavaLava to pick up some appropriate clothing. I bought two so I'll see about getting some pictures taken that I can post as well. We then went to a small grocery to try to find something to use for making lunches since our budget is minimal and eating out twice a day is too expensive. Grocery shopping is another whole experience that I will save for another day. Suffice it to say, there are a lot of American goods, but you really pay the price!

This afternoon we met the PC Medical Officer and tomorrow we start getting our shots. It's not too bad really as there aren't a lot of preventable diseases here. There is no malaria but there is dengue fever so we still get mosquito nets. We do have to have typhoid shots but most of the others are common ones that we all get as kids and most everyone has already had them.

Tomorrow we also start language instruction in earnest. We will be doing 3 hours of language everyday for the next week. Then, on August 17 we leave the comfort of our air-conditioned hotel and head out of the city to a small village for most of the rest of our training. That will be when I will begin to really find out what this life is going to be like. Each trainee will be placed in a host family home by themselves and it will be sink or swim as far as language learning goes. It will also be an opportunity to really get culturally immersed in the kind of surroundings I will be in for the next two years. I am very much looking forward to it.

Anyway, that's it for now. I know you have more questions and feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to answer them as soon as I can. I still won't know about frequency of internet availability until after we move to the village but I'll try to keep you updated as I can. I will also try to get some pictures up for you,

Until next time - take care and I don't miss you yet! but I am certain I will so feel free to write. Oh yes, speaking of email, please do continue to send them. I will be able to check it as frequently as I can get to the internet cafe so I'll look forward to hearing from you all.