Back in the UK

Safe home in the UK.
Kate

Australia part two

For our second day in Collaroy, we were again entertained by my cousin who drove us up to Palm Beach, which is the poshest address in these parts. We had a walk up to the lighthouse on the headland where there were fantastic views across the water - masses of yachts racing and wooded headlands - also views up along the coast. She then took us down to Manly where we had a picnic near the beach, then had a walk up the headland there.
At the end of the day David and I borrowed a bodyboard from the Youth Hostel as the surf had got a bit more impressive. It was quite wild but a lot of fun.
Sunday we took a train up to the Blue Mountains where we stayed in Katoomba, which is the traditional place for escaping the heat of Sydney. The Youth Hostel there is an old Art Deco style hotel. There is a sandstone plateau with amazing cliffs and waterfalls - loads of paths through the temperate (=cool) rain forest.
Monday and we are back down in Sydney staying with our friend - tomorrow we'll be doing the sights of Sydney itself then getting our flight back to the UK. PHEW!

Australia

Australia has been quite different from expected, pleasantly cool. We've been staying with our friend (who introduced us to each other in Guyana) - that has been great and a bit like coming home. We've been viewing the sights of Sydney by swanning around on the ferries. We've also been regally entertained by my cousin. Now we are doing a few nights' hostelling - firstly at Pittwater which is set in a National Park and is only accessible by ferry. There were wallabies hopping around outside the Youth Hostel, and we've seen white cockatoos, kookaburas and massive lizards (goannas).
Tonight we are back in civilisation, across the road from a surf beach - no surf today though, so we had a walk up the hill behind and enjoyed spotting some more birds (rainbow lorikeets) as well as spotting a suitable ice cream shop!
Kate

Penguins

Next day was a massively long trip over to Doubtful Sound. Coach then boat across one lake to where the hydropower stations is, then coach over the pass, then cruise on the Sound. A beautiful and majestic place, misty, shear cliffs with many waterfalls. We went along the winding fiord out to the sea, spotting some little penguins.
We had a day to explore Queenstown - a beautiful spot on a lake reminiscent of the Swiss Alps, did a great walk up the hill behind the town, seeing quite a few birds.
Next we had a coach ride then train ride to Dunedin on the east coast. The train was a heritage train along the Tarieri Gorge. Dunedin is a town which grew very rich through the gold rush, we admired some impressive buildings and the botanical gardens. The museum was good yesterday on a wet afternoon.
Now we are back in Christchurch and due to fly out to Australia tomorrow afternoon! We hear there is a heatwave there...

Southern Alps, birds

Had a great trip on the Trans Alpine train - I had no idea that the South Island was so scenic - building the tracks and roads over this side is quite an epic story as well. We've since done coach journeys with commentary down the west coast, ending up at Queenstown. Yesterday we went over the mountains to Milford Sound for a nature cruise. We saw a penguin (just the one) but it was a very rare one apparently, and fur seals. The shear cliffs and long waterfalls are impressive.
It feels like we are in Switzerland, only it is all much more isolated. The really sad thing is that the native bird population has been decimated by possums which were brought over from Australia for the fur trade. They have spread all over and climb trees to get at the birds' nests. The Dept of conservation is doing a trapping and poisoning programme to try to reduce the numbers of them, but there is so much land which is just native bush that it seems an insurmountable task. Meanwhile English introduced species are doing well - sparrows, blackbirds and chaffinches are everywhere.

Dates we get back

We get back to the UK on 12 Dec.
We will be staying at David's parents (Dorset), sister (London),  friend (London).
Back to Hereford around 2 January when we will be staying with a friend until 14 January when we can move back into our house.

Whales, Christchurch

Whale watching - had a lovely walk early morning and got back to the motel in time for being picked up for whale watching - we had good conditions (as a precaution Kate had not breakfast) and a very fast boat. They had echo location to search for the whales, then zipped over to get close in time for when they surfaced. The whales are only on the surface for a few minutes so they have to be quick. We saw two sperm whales this way, they were breathing on the surface, then dived deep with a majestic sweep of the tail - just like the posters. We also saw masses of dusky dolphins which were playing all round us, leaping out of the water. We were told by our young male guide that they have sex several times a day with different partners, he said if we believed in reincarnation then being a dusky dolphin might be a good option...
Christchurch - arrived by scenic train with commentary. The centre of the city is still shut down after the earthquake - they are disassembling some high rise buildings - people were
sitting out in the sun watching. It is rather sad as many of the oldest building and grandest new buildings were affected including nearly all the churches. We went to see Re-START which is a new shopping mall made entirely in shipping containers - it is a rejuvenation of the city shopping centre with all the big names. It is very bright and cheerful with the containers all painted bright colours. Also saw the museum there which had loads of stuff about Antarctic exploration.
Kate and David

Volcanoes, beaches, Wellington, Ferry

We are really getting into this tourist thing now. Tuesday we did a mountain walk on the slopes of one of the massive volcanoes in the centre of the North Island - fantastic views of the volcanes on a sunny breezy day. On Wednesday we heard that one of the volcanoes had erupted - only an ash cloud - but they had a panic getting walkers off the high slopes.
Wednesday we travelled down the west coast stopping at a few beaches - all massive long and windswept, but we found a place to swim, a place to walk and some craft shops to mooch round.
Thursday was Wellington - the capital city - we ticked off the tourist things - old churches, cable car to the Botanical Gardens, Te Papa Museum which is massive, fantastically entertaining and free. I really enjoyed the Maori stuff, very evocative - I did a lot of reading on the internet while I was off sick so it was all much more interesting having read about it all.
Today we travelled to South Island on the ferry which goes along fiord type places - I saw some whales in the distance which was exciting for me. Then a scenic train ride down the east coast to Kaikura where we are booked onto a whale watching trip tomorrow morning. And this evening we had a steak and a pint in an English type pub - shame the beer is cold...
And all this week we have been blessed by fantastic clear sunny but refreshingly breezy weather. We are reading about rain and floods in the UK!
Kate

Geothermal wonderland

We've stayed in a few good Youth Hostels, all with great facilities, and giving you a chance to have a chat with other hostellers if you wish. Our day in the Northland area gave me a chance to have a swim and a run on a sandy beach in fairly warm weather. It was chucking it down with rain for our big drive south to Rotorua. Roturua is the geothermal region - we had a walk out to Sulphur Point where there is steam venting out of the ground strange bubblings and strange smells. Interestingly it is a great area for birds - they don't seem to mind getting acid feet although it can remove the skin on their webbed feet!  

Our big day our from Rotorua was to visit a massive touristy geothermal area which included a geiser which they get going for the tourists with a bag of soap powder. Also there are amazing pools of coloured minerals, deep holes in the ground containing bubbling mud pools, spooky steaming vents everywhere and strange landscapes. Magic!

Wildlife in NZ

We've seen many more birds here - quite a few are English birds which have been introduced, but we've enjoyed getting to recognise the Parson Bird - black with a white neck ruff, the Fantail - which is a bit like a Bluetit but it fits about fanning out its huge tail and catching flies in mid air, the Pied Stilt - which is a bit like an Avocet.
Loads of interesting trees, notably tree ferns which are new to me - very primeval looking.

Western Samoa and New Zealand

Phew! Got away from the tropical climate - no more dripping with sweat all day and all night!
We had two nights in Western Samoa - quite a contrast form American Samoa - much busier- more roads, more businesses, more markets, more people being purposeful. The first day we wandered around Apia (the main town) and found a good snorkelling beach - brightly coloured fish a foot long and a massive black sea slug on the bottom. The second day we visited the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum which was an elegant wooden villa in beautiful grounds.
Flew to New Zealand - hired a car and spent a night with friends we met in AS - they have a beautiful home, immaculate gardens and smallholding producing year round beef, veg and fruit.
Today we took a drive round the north part of NZ and now at a Youth Hostel in Whangerei - just been admiring the yachts in the marina - a bit of a culture shock!

photo Mount Alava

on Mount Alava overlooking Pago Pago harbor

David's teaching is done

Thankfully Kate is much fitter now since her nasty bout flu and to prove it, yesterday we did a major hike to the top of Mount Lava which gave excellent views of Pago Pago harbour. Kate has been home getting a bit stir-crazy and counting the days until we leave on November 11 - tomorrow. Meanwhile, for the last few weeks I have continued to teach as usual and trying to time things so as to cover all I wanted to before the last day which was Friday - today is Sunday. I was able to wrap things up nicely and leave notes for my replacement WorldTeach person who we have just learned will be arriving in a couple of weeks.

In the last couple of days, students finally learned my age - their guesses ranged from 28 to 75 but their average guess turned out to quite accurate and only three years on the low side - disappointing since I hoped it would be at least 10 years on the low side. On my last day I got the students to each write me a farewell letter and all the letters were positive even from my least-favourite students. So I think Ive done some good. In the afternoon there was a school assembly and I got an excellent send-off. Though perhaps a bit undignified because I was made to dress in a lava lava - like a sarong -  and had to dance a little in front of the whole school. But my impromptu very short speech went down well by all accounts - I said that I would miss them and that Ive always been a coolcat now Im a Wildcat.As one of my students wrote - once a wildcat always a wildcat.

Wildcats is the name of our football team and after a miraculous game last week when we did very well to beat another school 22-21 for an exceedingly rare victory, normal service was resumed when we played Kates team yesterday and lost 68-0. Kate and I would have watched this game if the weather had been bad but fortunately the weather was fine and we enjoyed our hike up Mount Alava - only about 1600 feet but still quite enough of a work out.Pictures to follow when I get to it. David

Changing Gear

On Monday I went into school to sort out a few things. I was pleased to meet the teacher who is replacing me - in fact they are juggling around the classes, so he is not teaching the classes I taught. He had done some cover for me while I was off with flu. I was hoping that the school might be able to give me some tasks to do over the two weeks before we leave, but the only option was to do cover for absent teachers, and I thought this would be too stressful so I did not take it up.
So this week I've had to get used to being better, but being at home. I like being busy, so I've got a routine for the day - starting off with a long walk while it is not too hot - then doing various hobbies including a drawing session in the afternoon - I'm doing one exotic flower from the garden each day.
Today Saturday we had a day out to the small island at the East side - it's a long bus ride then a small boat ferry across. We walked all round the island, along jungly tracks, ending at a cove on the far side which really felt like the end of the world. Flat lava rocks with massive waves - some frigate birds sailing overhead - and a colony of large swifts swooping off the cliffs. The rock pools had turquoise water and we could see quite big stripy fish. On the way back we had a view of the central lake - the island is volcanic - it is a crater lake. Usually the jungle is so thick that it is difficult to see anything, quite easy to get lost - but as the whole island is only a mile or so wide you have to end up somewhere before too long.

Transition time

This week I have been convalescing after the flu. I got all my mid term exams marked and entered all my grades, which felt like quite an achievement.  I was very pleased to hear that my school has managed to find a local teacher to replace me - with a bit of juggling around of the classes. This teacher starts on Monday, so I do not need to do any more teaching before we leave. This is a great relief. 

Now I can concentrate on building up my strength, catching up on some reading and enjoying keeping up with the BBC World News - a great lifeline.

We are busy planning our trip to Western Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. We will keep up with the blog as we go, so watch this space!

Kate 

Leaving Samoa

David and I have resigned from our teaching placements here. I have been finding the work very stressful and it has been affecting my health.
We finish teaching on November 9 and fly out on November 12. We plan to go to Western Samoa for a couple of days, then on to New Zealand for two weeks, then a week in Australia before flying home via China (just for 4 hours layover). We will be back in the UK just before Christmas.
Kate

Kate off sick

I have had flu this week, I had to leave school on Monday morning as it hit me like a wall. Got a taxi home and have been laid up ever since. What I should have been doing was my Mid Term Exams with my classes. My Head of Department has been very good in making sure my classes all got a cover teacher, so they all got it done, which is great. I'm now trailing through the marking very, very slowly. At least it gives me a bit of a hobby. I am missing Radio 4.

Columbus day hike from Blunt Point, photos

from Blunt Point, Pago Pago

views over Pago Pago harbor

handy ropes provided for the steep bits

quite dense forest

Exams, Alaska hike

This week at school was a bit easier as we were revising for the mid term exams which are next week. It is difficult to get the level right for teaching (and for exams) particularly for my Geometry classes as the students have such a vast range of ability, both in understanding English and in math. I have to make up all my own work as the textbook is much too hard for the students. My Algebra 2 classes are more advanced - the level is more consistent so I can keep closer to the syllabus and use the textbook quite often.
Today three of us had a go at another trail. It's great to get out into the jungle for a day at the weekend, although today was a bit extreme. We hitched a ride in the back of a truck up to the top of the mountain - great views back over to the coastal plain where we live. Also in the truck was a local guy who was kindness itself, giving us a running commentary all about his village. It's much cooler up there so they nickname it Alaska! Then we set off down a trail towards Massacre Bay, where some Samoans and some French sailors were killed in an altercation is the 1700's. On the map it showed a dirt road all the way, but this fizzled out after we passed a few houses (and tribe of barking dogs). We ended up on a narrow downward ridge path which was often difficult to follow. It was billed to be a two hour trek down to the Bay, but after an hour's walking we had torrential rain and the path was getting steep and slippery so we decided to call it a day. That seemed the wisest move as we were in such a remote area and I was nervous about twisting an ankle.  A good trip out though - makes a quiet restful afternoon into a treat.
Kate

Good hiking on Columbus Day

We had some terrifically loud thunder in the early hours and torrential rain, so I was thinking we would not be able to get out for our hike, but the weather cleared and we had an ideal day - cloudy and breezy. We met up with some other volunteers and went up Blunts Point. It is where the gun emplacements are. It is the nearest thing they get to history in these parts. American Samoa was used as a naval base for the US until 1960 - it was important as a refueling station for the US to Australia route. The trail has been extended quite a bit and now goes right to the top of the ridge, then follows the narrow ridge with many steep little up and down climbs, all in thick jungle. There are newly placed thick ropes for some tricky scrambling spots. I think they are trying to improve some of the tourist sites - they are still very poorly marked and you need to be pretty fit to get round them. It was quite cool and breezy up the top - as we dropped down towards sea level we suddenly hit hot humid air. Glad that we could get a swim just there.
Columbus Day in a national holiday in the US, but I was reading on the news that in South Dakota it is not celebrated as Columbus is regarded as the murderer of American Indians. Here it is just an excuse for a day with the family.

wildlife on the hike - photos

crabs are in the forest

not just on the shore

one of those black lizards

David after a bad week

photos from hike - Sliding Rock to Fagatele Bay

Sliding Rock - looking for start of trail

on the trail - most was through forest

overlooking Fagatele Bay 

one of the vols recapturing his lost youth

paw paws

Rainmaker mountain in the background

bananas

Hiking trail

We have a public holiday on Monday (Columbus Day) - this is the nearest to half term that we get. The week after that is Mid Term Exams, grading and parents afternoon. School has had ups and downs this week so I'm glad to be able to relax a bit more this weekend.
Today we joined some other volunteers to do a major trail from Sliding Rock to Fagatale Bay. Sliding Rock is a coastal area with smooth rocks (as opposed to vicious volcanic rocky coastline). Another volunteer said that it is basalt which had been formed by volcanic activity underwater - there are geography and science exemplars all over this island! Amazing blue sea, white rollers coming in and crashing on the black rock. We walked along the beach hunting for a trail that we had heard about. Fagatale Bay is a national nature reserve so is meant to have some trails, if you can find them... I do have a map but the trails and paths marked on it are very out of date, they don't bear much relation to what is on the ground. We found a trail and were rewarded with a good path following the coast through the jungle, climbing up steeply to go along the rim of an ancient volcano. It was an exhausting climb, very hot and humid - we saw some black lizards 5 inches long, some hermit crabs about 4 inches long, and a massive toad which posed for the cameras. We could see the beach that we were aiming for - it was great to climb down the steep slope and get down on the sand. We went to this beach on orientation when the tide was high and there was loads of tree debris in the waves, but this time it was much calmer and a good swim in medium waves. A bit of snorkel opportunity with tiny electric blue fish and bigger stripy jobs. It was great to catch up with the other volunteers who we had not talked to since orientation. It was tricky with the buses today as there was a cruise ship in so the buses were busy making a lot of dosh ferrying them around on island tours and so not so many were available for everyday dollar rides. Kate

David's week

Two of my lessons were observed this week by the WorldTeach field director here. Afterwards some of the Samoan male students remarked how much they 'liked' her'.She got a good idea of the low math level of many of the students.  Thursday was chess club and I had 5 students, up from 2 last week. They are all beginners, quite a contrast from Guyana when I had half the school interested with some of them being very competent players. This weekend we went to the Post Office to collect the chess sets that I 'd ordered online after approval from the Principal - based on my estimate of 10+ members. They were sent via Ohio so as to save a huge amount on postage compared with sending them here direct. So now we have 6 very nice sets and a few books between only 5 players - I hope more students will turn up in the weeks ahead as the word spreads. I went to see our football team lose 62-0 to Kate's school. It was 56-0 at half-time and I was wondering if Kate's team would reach 100 but the second half was more even and we came very close to a touchdown. Kate's team's quarterback threw some very accurate passes and we were outclassed. Also this week was a display called 'blast from the past' which consisted of student models relating to key events in Samoan and world history and which took the students many weeks of effort and caused them to miss many classes. Was it worth all the time and effort? No of course not but they learned a little and enjoyed doing it and I enjoyed visiting each student's project and chatting to them. I had become unpopular earlier in the week by being unreasonable and insisting they didn't miss math class to work on their projects. Actually, the first I knew was when only 2 out of 7 turned up for calculus' and I told the Principal who had them rounded up eventually. She agreed with my old-fashioned view that math time should be for math. But the next day in Precalc class there were several students missing too - very annoying and apparently this happens every year. My neighbor teacher also had lots of students missing but some teachers knew what to expect and planned accordingly for fewer students.

Pep Rally

This has been a difficult week at school - the students have been hyped up as there were practises every day for the Pep Rally which was on Friday afternoon. A Pep Rally is a bit like cheer leading to build school spirit and class spirit. For this one each of the four year groups practised songs and chanting - the songs based on current pop songs with words/shouts about how great the school is and how great their year group is. This is accompanied by heavy but intricate drumming. My school is the home of the mighty warriors, so WARRIORS features a lot. These four groups are practising out of doors in different corners of the school, so it is a bit like being at a football match with the supporters trying to drown out the opposition chants.

Then on Friday afternoon the whole school gathered to have a competition - with external judges. So a quarter of the school at a time went up on stage to dance, sing and shout their anthems. It is mostly the boys who like to really show off with their dancing, some dress up with body paint and leap out from the crowd to do a special spot (mostly in explicit style).

Some good things about it all were the wild enthusiasm of all the students, that the song practises were led by a small group of students, so it was student led - also the whole event started and ended with prayers - you could hear a pin drop (1350 students).

school photos

not my classroom but the only picture of me in my ie - eeay - like a kilt. I wear this on Mondays and long shorts the rest of the week. In case you're wondering, I wear my blue swimming trunks underneath

David's school at a quiet time, with mountains in background

Kate painting over the graffiti in her classroom

Circus, snorkelling

More of a jolly report this week!

After a tiring week, David's school got to visit the circus on Friday afternoon - it was just across the road from the school. The school had negotiated a special price and a special show just for the school. There were acrobats, high wire, spectacular juggling, rhythmic drumming on tables and chairs, excellent magic, some quite amusing clowning - the kids were wildly enthusiastic. For the knife throwing act they got one of the students out and strapped him in on the board - they were pretending to throw but just stuck the knife in next to his face - the student was quite a good sport.

Today Saturday we had a bit of an outing - got the bus over to a good snorkel spot. The main problem here is that the sea is either massive waves on vicious rocky coastline, or placid lagoon about six inches deep. This spot is within Pago Pago harbor so is calm, but the sea is deep enough to swim and there is a small beach with golden sand and palm trees to sit under (but don't sit under a coconut in case it drops on your head). Sounds idyllic? Yes - well I guess it is really - you can swim around a bit a find where the coral starts and spot pretty yellow white and black angel fish, tiny intensely blue fish and massive blue starfish about a foot wide clinging to the side of the rocks. In the UK I've seen starfish which sit on the bottom looking boring, but these are kind of clamped onto the rock and with such a contrast of color.

Bird spotting this afternoon, there was an black bird with a bright red head which was sipping nectar from the hibiscus flowers in the garden - has a curved beak. David is patiently waiting to get a picture of it.

How different things are!

I managed to get all my lesson prep finished yesterday, so today has been a proper day off which has been great. We went down to our closest church for the service and afterwards were invited to lunch with the pastor and his wife. They were very welcoming and kind to us.
They came over from Western Samoa to start a church (congregational) 18 years ago. They started off fund raising in the US. They were allocated some land by the chief of this village who is a lovely lady who is currently a Senator. The chiefs take it in turn to serve as Senators in the government. The church was built and a house for themselves next door. They also have a church hall. The church is massive, with the most comfortable pews I have ever sat in (upholstered).
They have quite a small congregation - they said this was because the church has split four times, with groups going off to start their own churches. We asked about funding for the upkeep of the building. They run bingo in the church hall with massive cash prizes. Other churches also hire their hall for bingo paying a massive rent.  I asked if it was women who played bingo, the pastor said that both men and women play, he said that one good thing about bingo was that it kept the men from drinking.
We had a lovely lunch for the four of us with dishes contributed by members of the congregation. Their grandchildren (12 and 13 years old) waited at table and fanned us as we ate.
On leaving they presented us with a Samoan hymn book so we do not need to borrow when we come into church.

Challenges at home

This weekend has been a bit of a challenge as I was not feeling well, but I'm back to normal now. So we missed out on going out anywhere for a proper break - I did get lots of time to prepare my lessons though. Sunday church was the nearest Samoan Methodist (dress in white) with marvellous hymn singing - we can follow just about in our borrowed hymn book. The preacher did a special bit of sermon in English just for us, and mentioned our names quite a few times, a bit in English but mainly in Samoan. We were invited to sit right at the front and made a fuss of.
Some of the things that I'm missing about everyday life in the UK -  ways that I normally relax - like going for a walk. Here if we want to go for a little wander we risk disturbing a band of dogs who let loose a tirade of barking and are very intimidating to me. Not at all relaxing. So the option for a quiet walk is to go down the main route out of here, the same way we go to school. It does open up after a while to give views to the mountain, and also has the massive tree to admire. We can spot a bird maybe although there are very few different kinds - they can be pretty - saw a parokeet yesterday - just like London!
Kate

Labor day walk and immigration

Day off for Labor day Monday and very welcome so we took the bus towards the west of the island and walked along the coast a little. The sea is very rough there and there's no place to swim. We were told that the day before, a five-year old boy was drowned along there. We caught the sun, underestimating its strength because it was quite overcast for most of the day. My neck is quite red but not quite burned.  Today, Thursday we had to attend for more immigration bureaucracy.Again, we waited and waited but eventually we had photos and thumb prints done and we got our magic pieces of plastic that make us official. It cost $30 each but that's a lot better than someone having to fork out $2000 each as a kind of bail bond. Being a glutton for punishment, I went to the bank and tried to open an account. Kate took the bus back to her school. After a mere half hour, my details were taken and I have every chance I believe (after another interview in a few days!') of getting an account! Fa'a Samoa - the Samoan way! David

Sunday evening

Sunday evening - but Monday morning your time which still feels strange. David did not mention that his school social was held in the school meeting room which is the garage workshop - I don't think it was Garage music but it was mightly loud. We were treated to some displays of extreme dance styles by some of the male teachers - they can dance in all styles - both the traditional Samoan hand waving type and the local version of disco dancing which was beyond words. We joined them in a more sedate style and enjoyed a meal of a standard take away augmented by some local specialities: coconut cream baked in leaves which were like spinach - this is my definite favorite, mackerel in coconut cream baked in a half coconut shell - scrummy, baked breadfruit which really is like bread, and a cup of something indescribable which turned out to be raw tuna in a kind of sauce - seemed like eating slug. David's head of department made us feel welcome and was kind enough to wait around to give us a lift home.
Since then it has been a deluge on and off, but we are well served here with our veranda porch so we can sit outside even when it is tipping down. At least it has been cooler. This morning I went to church but in places the road was an inch deep in water so I did not do the long walk to English church, I just popped into the Samoan one at the end of the road. I met a welcoming lady (all in church white clothes with the elegant hat) who explained that it was a special Sunday to commemorate John Williams who was the missionary who brought Christianity (London Missionary Society) to Samoa. The singing was fantastic. She later told me that she is the chief of this area, so that was great to meet her.
I am trying to get braver about going running on my own, which is tricky as I can't really take my umbrella to feel brave about the dogs.
Today I did some extra work as it was too wet to go out much - I made a blackboard ruler, protractor, set square out of cardboard boxes, and I made a Pythagoras puzzle diagram - I also started my next World Teach module which was about Positive Behavior Management and suchlike. I find it useful stuff as long as I am not under pressure to get it done to the deadline.
Made a coconut and lemon cake today - it is tricky to get ingredients here - you can have anything you like as long as it is Korean. The only cake spice in cinnamon. But the coconut worked out OK, I just dropped it on the concrete a few times, then grated it and soaked it all day.  
Tomorrow is a public holiday for Labour Day, nothing special happens here so if the weather bucks up we are hoping to explore a bit more coastline, maybe even get the snorkel out.  Kate

David's third week

Ended the week on a disappointing note when I looked at student performance on some very very basic math. They are not ready for much of the actual syllabuses yet. But there are occasional signs of thinking so I have to be satisfied with that and hope! Thursday was first meeting of the new chess club. I was expecting 20 students but only 5 turned up, and none had played before. We learned the moves of king, queen, rook, and bishop, then started playing. This led naturally to looking at K+Q vs K forced win. I've been trying to order some sets from online but the postage does seem to be prohibitive despite what I first thought. I may have some sets delivered to mainland USA and sent on from there - fixed price $15 mailing box should work. Meanwhile we're making do with a couple of cheap sets. Yesterday, Friday, teaching periods were shortened in the morning to make time for student dance performances after lunch. Some were quite entertaining and the WorldTeach teachers may be expected to dance at a future event - aaarrgh!  Kate and I did get some practice making idiots of ourselves at karaoke at the staff social last night singing 'My Way' with a respectable score of 94/100!. We enjoyed ourselves after surviving, parched, until the drink arrived a bit late. And the first drinks to arrive were not soda which was what was needed then, but huge bottles of cold wine! Got quite sozzled by the end of the evening! Food was good - breadfruit and various coconut dishes.Today we had arranged to hike to Nu'uuli Falls again with a local couple we met last week, but they cancelled, which is fortunate because it has been bucketing down with rain all night and morning and shows no sign of stopping.

Busy week, immigration

We are having a busy week this week as we have to complete a Professional Development Module for World Teach as well as doing our usual lesson planning. But we have a public holiday on Monday, so we can have a more relaxed weekend. We are looking forward to a school social for David's school on Friday evening, and another trip to Nuu'uli Falls on Saturday with some new friends.
We went to Immigration yesterday and are alarmed that a bond has to be paid for each of us equivalent to a single ticket to our home country. We are hoping that either World Teach will be able to sort this, or perhaps the Dept of Ed will be able to appeal for exemption.
I am practicing my new bit of Samoan which is         Manuia le aso - have a blessed day.
Kate

our neighborhood - photos

our house - nice big open porch

 big tree on our way to/from schools

nice quiet shady streets - pity about all the trash

a few yards from our house

out and about - photos

The volunteers.

At Nuu'uli Falls. Good swimming-much colder than the sea!

The central bus station or 'bus exchange' where you change busses. 

The hike towards Nuu'uli Falls.

photos by the sea

Uploading photos to the blog is still (for us on this machine and slow connection) an art rather than a science, and it takes a while even when it works, so we may try a few at a time. No swimming on Sundays here but we've found somewhere where we can but it's quite a hike from the house.

some of the volunteers at a public swim place

At the east end of the island. Looks like I've shrunk!

Overlooking Pago Pago harbour

Our house is a very very very fine house

We are very fortunate in having the best house - the only ones with a lawn anyway! David and I have an ensuite room and we share a large open plan lounge with kitchen area. We share with two younger volunteers who each have their own room. We also have a spare room for guests - which happens quite often at the weekend as we are fairly central and the buses stop running at 6 pm. We are lucky to have a washing machine (antique but it works), and washing lines under cover. It always seems sunny here, but it can really chuck it down any time at all. We have clubbed together to get the internet in the house, which comes along with cable TV, so now we are blessed by having BBC World News. It is such a relief to see those familiar faces and the dulcet tones of reason. The house has a massive verandah looking over the garden with chickens and chicks, and quite a few birds hopping around the trees. Of course said chickens/cockerels start crowing under our windows any time from about 4 am. We have a couple of dogs which are the tail waggy type thankfully. Most dogs here are the mangy scary type - so I now take my umbrella everywhere - the dogs creep off when they see me coming.
It is in a quiet area where the extended family of our landlord live, so we feel we are surrounded by many people who know about us and keep an eye on us. We have some family members who groom our lawn and sweep the leaves off it. The area has dirt roads and well spaced houses among jungly trees. Just over the road is a traditional building called a fale - it is now used as a family meeting place, having open sides. We can have a little stroll around the local area if we are feeling brave about dogs and ask permission at every opportunity. It is rude here to wander around and not pass the time of day. People here ask Where you are going? which is similar to us saying How are you? Another interesting thing is that most houses have the graves of the ancestors in the front garden. Funerals are massive things here, they set up a pergola outside the house and large numbers of people seem involved for quite a few days.
David and I both have a 40 minute walk to our schools, and pass some reasonable shops on the way home so we can pick up most things that we need. The prices are more than the US or UK, but that is what you might expect as nearly everything is imported. There are some pretty cheap things like local veg, pork, chicken. There is a lot of tinned fish and meat like tinned tuna, greasy corned beef, spam. When you look in the freezer cabinet you would be amazed and bamboozled by the exotic body parts - chicken feet, turkey tails, pigs chaps, intestines, tripe, gizzards, massive octopus with 1 inch wide suckers, dodgy shellfish. Unfortunately it is all a bit expensive to buy if you are not sure you could stomach it!   Hope to put on some more pictures soon. Kate

David's second week

After our heavy football loss last Saturday, I attended another game Thursday which was quite exciting and we won narrowly after losing then regaining the lead. Not knowing the finer points of American football I learned a bit by asking my fellow teachers why they didn't do this or that; sometimes there was no reason so we do have room for improvement. This was a tiring day because I had no breaks because of illness of another math teacher so I had his classes as well part of the day. Fortunately he returned today. My classes are still not settled and the computer system we use for entering absences has not yet caught up with the changes so there's still uncertainty about who are really my students. Today was still quite busy and this afternoon there was a fight involving three students which came out of a clear blue sky. It flared up and since we are not supposed to intervene I quickly found a school counselor but the fight had fizzled out in the 20 seconds it took to get back to the classroom. They were marched off and I didn't see them until the end of the lesson when they came back to make a convincing apology - some of them could win Academy Awards I think! Still teaching very basic stuff, necessary because of where the students are academically, even my 'calculus' students. I have permission to go ahead with a chess club and about 15 students have signed up so we'll start next Thursday. I will look for some sets or buy them from Amazon since the postage cost is not too enormous. David

School challenges

At the end of last week I had a problem with my hand after writing on a chalk board for a week - something that I haven't done for 30 years. So I went hunting for chunkier chalks and was pleased to find sidewalk chalks which are much easier to hold - the size of sausages! They work well on the board, soft and they don't get so damp with your sweaty hands. 

I am trying very hard to make my lessons engaging, by doing lots of short activities and games. For instance this week I am revising basic arithmetic and negative numbers. So I've made number cards. The students have one each and mill around to try to make themselves into a sum - say it's multiplication. Then we have a judging session - those who are in sums read them out, the rest are judges - thumbs up or thumbs down? I think this kind of thing is worth doing as all the students get engaged in figuring out what numbers they need to match with 42 for instance. I don't think they'd be so engaged by pages full of drill sums...

However the school is more interested in me turning in detailed formal lesson plans preferably with high falutin' objectives. Fortunately they are on a weekly basis so I just need to swallow a dictionary on Sunday afternoons. 

More positively, I think maybe our efforts have unexpected positive consequences sometimes - for instance I was teaching about number line today, moving right and left - maybe these kids will have a better notion of how to give directions out in the street!

Kate

Football, beach hunting, new church

It seems to work best for us to prepare lessons on Sunday, as this is a day where everyone is expected to stay at home in their family. So we like to make the most of Saturday. Yesterday morning we went to watch the first American Football match between schools. Remember that this island is only 20 miles by 3 miles, and the population of Hereford, and you'll appreciate that matches between schools are what it is all about. The schools are the main organizers of sport, and getting sport scholarships is a major way to get off island, so it is all deadly serious. There is a mini stadium, which is the only pitch that there is, so this is where the matches are. American Football is like rugby only with more tackling and less running. Each bit of play lasts a minute or so, then the clock stops while it all gets sorted out ready for the next bit. There are vast teams split into different squads who swop on and off the pitch every few minutes. I felt it was all a bit of an Alice in Wonderland  experience. I guess you could say it is a spectacle - there is also a fine view from the top of the terraces looking out towards the breakers on the distant rocky shore.
For the afternoon we went in search of said breakers, which was a bit of a long walk, but worth it. We ended up at the historic governor's residence which is next to a bar which hosts the local night life. We strolled off along the rocky shoreline, seeing pillow lava, flow patterns in the lava, blowholes (not blowing much). It was a bit like a geology textbook. The rock is black, the sea an intense turquoise blue  with white breakers - get the picture? We trudged some way along the coast hunting for a place where we could swim. Places with breakers are too rough and rocky, places without are too shallow as they are coral lagoons - you have to find a small patch of deeper water between patches of coral. Our patch was only about 20 feet long, but it was enough for a swim - one at a time so we could help pull each other out up the steep corally beach - very scratchy - we were glad of the surf shoes we bought in Pembrokeshire before we left! We saw some intensely blue tiny fish but didn't have our snorkel with us this time. We walked about three miles hopping along rocks - with no shade before we came to an idyllic spot with a few trees for shade and views across the lagoon and along the breakers. It was an exhausting afternoon so we rounded off in Kentucky Fried Chicken for air conditioning, TV, ice cream and iced pop.
This morning we went to a different English Church, which is Congregational. They made quite a fuss of us - the service was much more to our taste, the first half being very simple and from the heart - the second half was culturally challenging as the message was absolute: the value of the traditional family with the aim of producing children being at the heart of home, community and nation. Hearing how people view the family here makes it easier to understand why there is such a rift with churches having more liberal views. This English Church attracts non-Samoans, there were folks from Fiji and India. We will probably stick with this church and see how it goes.  Kate

David's first week teaching

I'm at 'Votech' a vocational or trade school of about 400 students. I'm here to teach math as part of the school's mission of providing an academic foundation for the students. I had no idea which math I would be teaching but I had free rein to teach anything this first week so I've included 'countdown' (a popular TV quiz game in UK) and  the relative populations and areas of Am.Samoa, UK, and USA. The teaching day has been divided into 6 supposedly equal periods this week. in fact they are not equal because the bell is rung manually and depends on someone remembering! This results in some periods being 15 minutes longer than others. Scheduled times are several minutes out because the clock-in clock is wrong and the persons who are authorised to adjust it are not available! . Not all students were here from day 1 and many are switching courses but things seem to be settling down now. Go with the flow! In addition to my math students I've been teaching some business students in their teacher's absence but fortunately he's back now. I teach basic algebra (2 classes) and precalculus and calculus! This is optimistic to say the least since even my best students are starting from little and wrong! Academics is a low priority for the students; much more important are 'music' and football(American) and there's a game tomorrow starting 8am versus Leone, the village to the west of the island where there are 4 worldteach volunteers so I expect to see some of them tomorrow. The week finished with a 'pep rally' this afternoon. This was an assembly of the whole school and a chance for students to let of steam with their football chants which they've been practicing all this week (the school is divided by years: freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior which correspond roughly to 4th 5th and 6th form) The chants are very varied and rhythmic with clapping and very very loud.. All about building the school spirit. 'from the east to the west, the wildcats are best!' We are the 'wildcats -yellow and black colors. Go wildcats!  David

School day 2

This is the second half of the School day post.
We have short days this week as some students have not registered so they have a lot to sort out. The ends of classes can be a bit flexible in timing as someone has to physically go out to ring it, so we have to play games at the end for 5 to 10 minutes until it sounds. My classroom is very hot as it has no fans and no air conditioning. It is noisy as it is at the end of the building near the loos and the gym, so boys tend to hang out in the shade of the roof so that can disturb us. At the end of the day the American football quad warms up and practises right outside my door which sounds like rugby chants, I make a beeline for the other vol's classroom which is blessedly cool and quiet - I can do prep there until we are allowed to leave at 4 pm.
Needless to say that I work most of every evening at present. They are just adjusting to the Core Standards (like National Curriculum) and these do not match the current text books. So we have to plan out our scheme of work carefully - just finished! The other thing is that our students are all English language learners, so I am finding there is a wide spread of oral and written comprehension - our World Teach orientation empasises group work to increase student talk time and decrease teacher talk time. I suspect there will be a wide range of math abiltiy as well. For the math bods among you - there are added complications of the different math words used here (eg radical means square root,) as well as the appallingly formal complex language in the book emphasising proofs etc. There are no lower level courses here like Foundation in the UK. If you fail you repeat. Kate

School day

One of my students has won the long name competition- Faateleinaleviigaileatua - emphasis on the penultimate syllable so it is - Fa a tele ina levi inga ilea TOO a - got that? Glad to say that she uses a shortened version!
Things are settling, so here is a description of my day:
Walk to school for 40 minutes - breezy and pleasant. Get things sorted for the day before lessons start at 8.30. We have 7 periods per day, one I have free and another is lunchtime. So I teach 5 classes about 40 - 50 minutes. I teach the same timetable on Mon Wed Fri, and same classes but mixed around on Tue and Thu. Two are algebra (level like first year A level), three geometry (level like higher GCSE). One class has 28 students, but the others are currently more managable such as 12 - 20. This week and next things may change, so we are doing starter activities - like I am used to. The classes are mixed ages from grade 9- 12, age 14-17, in some ways that is nice as the students do not know each other that well, so we are all getting used to each other.
I do the same routine every session: puzzle, song, name game, instruction, group work, close, game. The students here are very friendly and social - so love to have lots of change in activity. Generally here the teaching is very traditional, lecture, recite, silent work on tasks - so I'm trying to be very structured and clear in my expectations, but also drop in lots of things that challenge students to think and also make it more fun.
Lunch today was pork? in tinned mixed veg, rice, apple sauce, tinned peaches, carton milk. We eat with the students. Nobody goes hungry here.  Kate

Contact details change, first day teaching

We have a new P O Box for us volunteers, so please use this new one: P O Box 2596.
Interestingly we don't have an address here - I have only seen a couple of roads which have a name, and houses do not have names or numbers.
The first day went well - I had very structured sessions, all the same. We did a song, a name game and some group work on "What makes a good student?". Tomorrow it is "What makes a good teacher?". Surprising things were that we get not only a free lunch but also a free breakfast if we can get to school early. The good bit is that they give out cartons of milk at lunch, so that reduces the need to carry a lot of drinking water to school. We are advised not to drink the tap water here as there are too many piggeries affecting the ground water quality. Student names have been quite easy so far, they tend to have a shortened version - one student has a massively long name about 20 letters long.  Kate

Getting ready for school, birds

After having time off resting this week, I decided to go for school on Monday, so needed to catch up lots of prep work. First the classroom - we not only have to do the cleaning ourselves but we also have to buy the broom! My room has louvred windows which do not close up properly so a lot of dust has blown in over the summer. David helped me to put out the desks - they are heavy affairs with chairs attached. I am glad to have a room which I can call mine, as some other vols have to share rooms, don't know yet, or have a space which is not secure.
Today I found out all things I missed on Friday's Staff Meeting, so I spent the afternoon doing my lesson plans for the week and reading policies and procedures. My school is large so needs to be pretty organised -some other vols seem to have had very little information about what they need to do tomorrow.
Birds: Wattled Honeyeater, Red Vented Bulbul.  Kate

david's classroom

Yesterday was a day of meetings with math teachers and Dept of Education people. It took place at Kate's school near the airport and I got to meet several of Kate's colleagues. Today I was back at my school for the day and I learned that I now have a classroom of my own! I thought I was going to be a 'floater' and use other teacher's classrooms at least for a week or two so it's good news. The classroom is better than most and other volunteers may be jealous. However it's quite dirty and there's a lot of clutter and non-math material that I'd like to be rid of. Teachers here are responsible for cleaning- I don't know why the education system can't afford a janitor/security person. Of course we can get the students to do some when they arrive.  It's still not obvious which math courses I will be teaching and the students arrive on Monday. But apparently I do have quite a free rein to use the first week on practically anything while all the students eventually turn up.There are only 23 desks in my room so I think my class-size will be much less than in Guyana. And if I'm teaching calculus and/or precalc, then there will likely be very few students which suits me fine. We shall see - it's all rather vague right now. Tomorrow, Saturday I'll go and do some cleaning and then finalise my plan for what to do with the students who are there this week. David

Ups and downs

We now have internet in the house which is fantastic - it has taken a while to organise and costs about four times what we pay in the UK for our house - but it is split four ways thankfully. But it will be great for keeping in touch but also being able to access music news and stuff.
The down side is that I've had some problems with my eye - flashers - I went down to the hospital and eye clinic here. They have seen me twice - advising me to have bed rest and keep my eyes still for 5 days. However we've had other more up to date expert advice that  I don't need to do that - just avoid heavy lifting. Anyway it has got better following the rest period, so maybe that was useful advice. Now I can get moving a bit more to get ready for school on Monday - it was all on hold which was very frustrating.
I saw my classroom on Friday before I got the bedrest order, and it is the same that the previous volunteer had - a small room right alongside the football area. It does not have many finer points, but I hope I can at least get it swept out before I do my first session. It is 4.5 yards wide and 14 yards long, with blackboards at each end. 26 desk/chair units for students, a teacher desk, chair and a table. That is it. I have to provide my own cleaning materials, stationery. If I want to paint over the dodgy bits on the walls I have to provide my own paint and do it myself. But I will get enough text books for my students to have one at home and at least share at school so that is great. I believe I may get issued with a laptop as they want us to take the register online. That is a worry as my room is not secure as some of the louvred windows are pulled out.   Kate

More about the photos

The views from Nu'uuli School is where we were camping out in classrooms during the three weeks of orientation - also where David is teaching. You'll note the fantastic view, which is even more amazing at 6.15 dawn - but maybe I appreciated that a bit more than David... The bay is very shallow as it is a lagoon with coral reefs out towards the sea. You have to travel quite a way down the coast to find a spot to swim.
The view from Breakers Point is looking from the other side of Pago Pago bay. You'll notice how steep the slopes are - there is only a narrow strip of land where there are buildings - they back onto precipitous rainforest. There is one trail that gets you to the top of the mountain which we hope to do sometime soon.
There's also a photo of one of the Tsunami signs - there are sirens installed and if they go off then you run for high ground.
Kate

a few photos

have not mastered photos yet but here are some....

views from Nu'u'uli school

view from Breaker's point (Pago Pago)

Some trips out

It is not all trips out I promise you - we have also been learning about all sorts of official requirements, and doing our solo lessons. But yesterday we had a trip to the museum, which is a small place but interesting - dug out canoes with bark cloth sails, tattoo explanations, medicinal plants - then a weaving demonstration and a chance to have a try. They make ceremonial fine mats but we were just doing the basics. 

Today we went to the National Marine Sanctuary - sounds impressive but it was mainly an excuse for a swim in rough breakers - OK to snorkel for people who are very experienced. But we stayed close in to the shore - saw small blue fish, and bigger striped ones.  This afternoon we climbed a trail up to Nu'uuli Falls which was brilliant - a tall thin waterfall with a deep cool pool.

Tomorrow we move out to our accomodation, four of us are sharing a house, but for the first few days we will have four vols staying with us until they can get their transport out to the islands of Manua. We won't have internet at the house, although we are hoping to arrange it. Monday is General Assembly for all school teachers, so we have to dress up in our World Teach uniform. 

Kate  

first photo!

white collared kingfisher??

Samoan language

Talofa (hello)
The Samoan language contains more vowels than you could ever imagine - you can get nearly a whole sentence without consonants:
Oa mai 'oe
This means How are you?
The apostrophe is alive and well - indicating a glottal stop. Words can mean something quite different without it.
ata means story
'ata means smile.
We are encourage to practise with people we meet in the street - Samoan people are very happy to stop and talk if you want to, but every time I say Talofa, they say Good Morning!
Fa'asamoa means The Samoan Way, also meaning the language.
Fa'apalagi means The White People's Way, also meaing English.
Fa'afetai means Thank you.
Fa'amolemole means Please.
I am making a little dictionary using an address book, the F page is nearly full already!
(We have learnt those words as well..)
Kate

day off Saturday

Decided not to walk to waterfall because the trail might be muddy after the recent heavy rains. But today was beautiful hot and dry and those who did the waterfall walk had a good walk and swim. We'll do it another day. Instead, though, we took a bus to Pago Pago and changed busses there to get further to the east. Busses are easy and you simply pay one dollar to the driver when you exit. Also they use regular bus stops and don't have to wait until theye're full before going, unlike Guyana. After braving some noisy and threatening dogs, and failing to find any humans to ask permission, we walked a few hundred yards up the steep slope to top of hill known as Breakers Point where there was a view. Saw the nice white kingfisher-like bird again.Took bus back to Pago Pago and started walking, finding cheap lunch. Museum, library, post-office all closed Saturday afternoon but at least we know where they are now. Kate swam at a public beach where the local children were having fun. We found the hospital and registered to expedite future necessary visit - hope don't have to! The TV in emergency room was on so we watched 5-mins of Olympics! Found a good map at Sadie's hotel. Lots of big bottles of hard drinks available there for the partying tourists. David

Time off, house

We are getting more confident about being out and about. We have got ourselves phones, ordered some local style clothing to be made, and we have been out for a couple of meals. I go runnng every morning on my own. Sunrise and sunset are at about 6, so it is good to make the  most of the daylight as we are coming from summer days in England. Tomorrow we have a whole day off so are planning a walk up a trail to a waterfall where locals swim, and then a trip on the bus to Pago Pago to catch up on some jobs and have a stroll around - weather permitting as it is lashing down this evening. We are lucky to have air conditioning in most of our rooms at this school, but outside it is very hot and sticky.     We have heard about our accomodation which sounds very nice but is quite a way from school- they say it is an hour to walk, or a 25 min walk then a bus, but I expect we will manage it quicker. Otherwise maybe a bike, but they are not common here. The traffic is very gentle though, unlike Guyana!  We would be sharing with two others, also have a spare room where we can put up other vols who are visiting which would be great.     Kate

Teaching thoughts and school

We have been doing Orientation as a group of World Teach volunteers - altogether we have three weeks. So we have classes for most of all the days, tomorrow is our first full day off. The classes include some very helpful guidance about classroom management, lesson planning, local culture, Samoan language, education system. We have taught trial lessons in small groups and in pairs (to our own group). Next week we get to teach a small group of local students.  We also get some trips out which are great. It all helps to build our confidence in what we will need to do when we get into the classroom. Generally our aims are to foster enjoyment of learning, by doing fun activities, by having lots of variety, by doing investigations rather than lectures, and to establish a respectful class atmosphere. Many parents and teachers here still use corporal punishment or the threat of it, so we are trying to demonstrate that there is another way. My school is particularly challenging as it is so big and has students from all over the island. So they are not in a cohesive group. In other schools the village and village elders will support structure and discipline in the school, but this is not possible in my school. I have met the Deputy Head, who used to be in the Marines, so perhaps that bodes well. David's school is a vocational school with few students.   Kate

People, Church, Shopping

It is a pleasant surprise how courteous people are. The roads are narrow and the traffic goes about 20-30 mph, but still if you are standing at the side of the road a car will stop for you to cross. While we walk down the street people say hello from their cars and ask about how long we are staying, and what we are doing. They introduce themselves and we shake hands and they are very welcoming. We've already had an offer to stay at someone's relative in Apia in Western Samoa, so that would be lovely for next July!        We both went to an English speaking Church on Sunday morning called the Assembly of God - it was not my usual style - about 6 happy clappy songs at the start, then prayers where eveyone prays at the same time as clapping loudly so you can't hear anything. Then we had a half hour homily against gossip, which was very clear and well delivered, including a humourous video and general good advice to avoid what is called the Cococut Wireless - that everyone here will know your business almost before it happens!   Shopping again today - we have both got phones, and are trying text family with little success yet. We have to get staff school uniform sewn for us, for me it is a long maroon skirt with the school logo, then any white blouse, but David is enjoying the prospect of wearning a wrap around ie fataga which may be better described as a skirt (with pockets). I also have to have a puletasi made up which is a narrow long skirt with matching fitted top  - this is the local equivalent to a suit.     There are lots of useful shops just up the road, small type supermarkets selling everything as well as a teacher's store - we have to buy all stationery and supplies for school ourselves.   Kate

Wildlife sightings

Many of our group went to see Batman film on Friday ight, but we saw the real thing - giant bats which are known as flying foxes we think. They are about 18 inches wing span, and fly with slow stately flaps. They fly in the late afternoon so are very visible. We've seen only a few birds, I don't think that will be much of a hobby for us. We saw a white bird with a long beak shaped like a kingfisher, don't know what it is. The ubiquitous bird is the mynah bird which fills the parrot niche here - they squabble and squawk and strut about. We've seen big crabs and Cain Toads , tiny lizards, mercifully very few mosquitoes here, perhaps because of the breeze at this time of year. The worst of the animal life is the ****ing dogs which are a daily hazard and really scare us. They threaten you as you walk down the street - the only real way to avoid them I find is to walk along places with no houses - so for my morning run I go alongside the airport fence adjacent to industrial sites. The strategy is to shout HALU in a gruff voice, which means LEAVE US ALONE, and to pick up a stone ready to throw at them. I haven't had to throw one yet, but I am ready to!

Field Trips

We have all been without internet for a few days, so it is great to get back on. All the vols are sitting typing away in case it goes off again. We've been lucky with cooling breezes and only a couple of downpours - we can shelter for five minutes and it passes over again.
We've done a few field trips, which are called cultural adjustment. First to the East of the island passing various stores and government landmarks. We passed 2 dollar beach where there is beautiful golden sand connecting the roadside to a tiny island - the family have built a few shelters for sitting around and picnicing, and you can play volleyball on the beach (of course you have to pay 2 dollars for the privilege). At the end of the road, which curves in and out along the coast line, was the wharf for boats going to the nearby island of Au'uunu where some of our vols will be teaching. We could swim in quite deep water there and enjoy the waves crashing at the end of the jetty. The water was very warm of course, but it was good to taste the salt after the last swim on Lake Michigan. Second Field Trip was to Blunt's Point, where we walked up a trail which led to two massive cannon which were set up to protect the harbour at Pago Pago. From there we had great views of course over the harbour over the "capital" - really just a long thin village. There is only room for about three buildings deep before the forested land rises precipitously.

Samoa, by the lake

We are camping out at a school while we do orientation for three weeks.Over the road is the lagoon of Nu'uli. It seems like a lake, as the water is calm and there is no tide - about 200 yards away is the sea proper with beautiful waves crashing onto the reef - the sea is a magical blue/turquoise colour. Out across the bay is a low island with palm trees, and on the left side are steep sided very wooded volanic hills. Along the base of these steep slopes is the one coast road, which is one lane in each direction - there's a constant stream of traffic going to 20 - 30 mph. Today we travelled by school bus for half an hour towards Pago Pago bay to be greeted by the ministry of education officials. We passed quite a few traditional houses - fale - which are huts with pillars but no walls. They house a whole family, they make blinds which they can roll down to form walls at night. We also passed some massive tanks (probably oil) where there is a chance to swim - that is deeper water.

Yesterday we went to the shops which are well stocked and seem quite cheap, and got a mobile, which I'm learning to use, so family may get a text soon! There are not many street vendors like there were in Guyana, but I did see one selling papaya, chinese greens etc - worth investigating when we are catering for ourselves. At the moment it is cooking in groups for all 30 of us, and a trip down to the Cost U Less store. Of course this being American Samoa, the main places of interest down the road are Pizza Hut, MacDonalds, and so on.  Obesity is a massive issue here - for instance they really do sell turkey tails which are notoriously fatty. The men particularly are massive, which seems emphasised by the traditional clothing of ie which is a wrap around garment, but with pockets. In the othere direction you get to the airport, and just past there is a beach of sorts for a swim. Kate

Hawaii then Samoa at last!

Monday -massive walk up the Diamond Head which is the crater of a volcano. Sounds exotic but it is actually an old lookout for the army. Great view over the bay and the high rise of Maikiki Beach area.
Monday afternoon we should have been flying out to Samoa, but we were not allowed on the plane as our documentation was not in order. So we had a frustrating 24 hours trying to phone through to Samoa to the organiser - in retrospect it would have been a good move to buy a phone in the US just so we had easier communication.
Tuesday afternoon at the 11th hour the airport supervisor agreed to ring through for us to get permission to board. We were GOOD TO GO!!! PHEW!!!
Wednesday morning - we are with the other volunteers now at a high school, and just so glad to be back on track. The view is fantastic, and there is a lovely breeze. Kate

Hawaii

Today we went on an all day tour of Hawaii on a coach. The scenery is impressive with steep and fissured mountainsides - all volcanic. We saw a massive turtle on a beach, a pineapple plantation, and the mothballed fleet of battleships in Pearl Harbour. Our tour guide played a small Hawain guitar rather well, but sang rather badly. He told us about having a flower in your hair -behind left ear means single, behind right ear means married, on the top means married but looking for something better, and a flower on the back means follow me and ask no questions!
Altogether this place is the playground of the rich, so not quite my style.
Tomorrow we get the plane for Samoa, hopefully we will be meeting up with the rest of the volunteers as we are all on the same flight. Kate