Bugs, Church, and Computers

February 9 -
I have a gross out story for you! Night before last I was sitting at the table playing computer games when I noticed a creepy crawly 1/2 inch long wormy looking thing crawling across my screen. I brushed it away and smashed it. A bit later there was one on my arm. I smashed it. Then there was one on the mouse pad, etc. After a while of this I decided something had hatched out in my thatched roof and they were crawling around and dropping down from my ceiling which creeped me out so I got out my trusty Mortein bug spray and sprayed the roof/ceiling. Well, they kept falling down, but now at least they were dead. However every other bug, fly, moth, beetle etc. that was up there died and fell down too. It was totally disgusting. There were dead bugs everywhere except in my bed and that's because the top of the mosquito net caught them. What can I say? It seemed like a good idea at the time!

February 11 -
Sunday again. Off to church in a bit but I'm not worried about being late. It's the "Samoan way" to show up when you feel like it for anything, including church. It's supposed to begin at 8:30 and there are maybe 100 people there by then plus all the Sunday School kids. Just before the first hymn about 20-30 more people wander in. These are mostly choir members. Then there is an extended prayer and another hymn, then another 20-30 people take their seats. Then just before the sermon the last shift arrives. These people have been accumulating in the church foyer waiting for the appropriate time to enter the sanctuary. By the way the Methodist church here is an offshoot of the Anglican church and they stand for all songs, and kneel on the floor (in their white clothes) to pray. I understand from my PCV friend Ray that is the way Anglicans do it. I'm not Anglican so I don't!

Church is a bit different from what I am used to., Families are not seated together. Kids are with the SS group, boys on one side of the church, girls on the other side. Adults sit in the middle two sections, men on one side and women on the other. A couple of cranky old crones keep an eye on the kids and if they get out of line they get up and go smack them, either with their hand or their fan. Little kids get up and go wandering around to other family members whenever they want. During prayers (remember everyone is kneeling?) people look around to see what everyone else is doing, chat with their neighbor, play with their little ones, etc. Periodically they close their eyes and may murmur "thank you" in response to a "thank you Jesus" portion of the minister's prayer. In this village church attendance is mandatory but of the 1150 population only 200-300 are actually in church at one time and there is only one church. Today there was a rugby game on TV. The men's section was surprisingly empty.

About the Computer Center. It's a pretty nice setup actually. Four Pentium IV computers plus a server, all in a nice air-conditioned area. The government is on a big push to make computers available to everyone so they have been running around the country setting up these centers. Never mind that no one knows how to work them or maintain them. One computer won't boot at all - one long beep code for you geeks out there, The server has the same problem off and on. The internet doesn't work so I decided to find out why. Some bozo installed a 19.2K modem. It actually has a 56K modem so I uninstalled the wrong one and installed the right one. Now the computer knows the modem is there but still no internet connection. I checked the phone line and guess what - it's dead. I found an old September phone bill lying around that was overdue and threatening cutoff so I guess we know why the phone line is dead. There is a printer/fax machine that needs a toner cartridge, and a printer/scanner/copy machine that needs new print cartridges. Oh yes, the typing tutor program I was counting on for classes was a trial version and has expired! Aargh!!

Yesterday we had another PC Committee meeting to make a final decision about what project we will work on. They kept trying to get me to decide. I kept telling them that was their job. I presented the information I had collected about potential funding for various projects at which time the matai decided to drop their request for a fishing boat because it would require a 35% contribution from them and they don't have it. So we will be trying to build a new Aualuma house with a health center and room for a daycare or classrooms. They really do need a Health Center because it is 1 1/2 hours to the nearest medical facility.

I bought the shelf unit Friday and spent that night and Saturday morning putting it together and then putting things in it. It has 3 shelves divided into 2 sections each. The 3 sections on the right side have doors and the ones on the left are open. So I put my food, dishes, and pans in the ones with doors and books and papers in the open shelves. I got rid of two boxes and now there is a lot more room on my table. It's great.