Customs

This entry is primarily to share the customs they I have picked up on while being here.  It's things I learned about the culture and my interpretations of them.

Different.  The one word I would choose to describe it.  It looks similar in many ways to the southern parts of the U.S. but once immersed into the society you can really see how truly different life here is. The part I found most interesting is that America attempted to re-make and westernize the physical land in the 1970, which they succeeded in, but they couldn't "Americanize" their core values.  Their core beliefs have remained strong for decades and decades, and that to me is truly amazing.

Religion
Forget about separation of church and state or church and school.  Not here.  There society is still run mainly on their Christian values.  Sunday everyone..and I mean everyone...dresses up in white and goes to church.  Before meals or any big assemblies we always pray.  Even the school day starts off with a song and a prayer. Sunday literally is a day of rest.  The buses don't run, most schools are closed and you aren't allowed to swim or play outside.  At first this was tough for me to grasp.  Sunday is usually my day to run errands and catch up on things I was too busy for during the week.  But when Sunday came along I was shocked by the serenity.  All is calm.  There are few cars in the road.  We can't go anywhere so we would ed up playing cards or reading all day.  It is nice to have a day where you don't have any obligations.  I got to do the things that I usually push to the side or don't "have time" to do.  But, you know what, even without my typical productive Sunday, I still accomplished everything I needed to do during the week.  It really puts stuff into perspective.   

Dress
Think 1800s....long skirts, no shoulders, no knees (apparently the back of the knee is a very risky body part).  Show as little skin as possible.  That is basically the idea here.  Of course there are more westernized areas where girls can wear short shorts (by short I mean mid-thigh) and tank tops (thick strap).  But many villages prefer modesty.  Basically, I had to get a whole new wardrobe before I came.  Women especially are expected to dress with modesty.  Most women wear their hair up in buns and very little make up.  Most of the girls just wear long bball shorts and t-shirts.  It's actually pretty awesome.  To live in a place where it is not only socially acceptable but encouraged to wear gym shorts and a tee every day...pretty sweet.  It literally takes me 5 minutes to get ready now.  Add another 5 minutes for the cold shower that I never want to linger in and I'm good to go.  Now, I still like to dress up but I could get used to this.  They have some traditional clothing here: the lava lava, puletasi and ie.  I found the lava to be very practical.  I bought 6 of them already and wear them all the time.  It is lie a sarong that you wrap around your waist.  This way I can wear my soffees around the house and then throw on a lava lava if I'm going outside.  They also have formal wear which is the puletasi.  It s a long shirt that goes down over your butt with long sleeves and a long skirt that covers your ankle.  Super attractive.  I will be wearing them to school every day.  The men wear a Hawaiian style top and an ie for the bottom, which is essentially a skirt that goes to your knees.  They don't wear slacks or dress pants here.  It is also common for men to wear a lava lava around the house.  It was a little strange to see men in skirts at first but I'm getting used to it.  I just had 6 puletasis made and I'm ready to go to my island in style! Pictures to come!

Busses
My all time favorite part of American Samoa.  Basically, there is only one main road going from one end of the island to the other.  The buses travel up and down the road from 6am to 6pm.  They are made by connecting a trolly type thing to the back of a pick-up-truck.  The windows and doors are completely open the entire time.  From the outside you look like you are getting on this rickety old bus but the inside is all decked out!  I'm talking cheetah print lined interior and a blasting stereo! They love their music.  They can be playing anything from soft Samoan tunes to Lil' Wayne  Any if you are lucky to get the backseat then you have the speakers right under you and are bumping up and down with the bass the entire time.  Some even have a big screen tv connected to the front of the bus playing music videos.  These buses just go with their common theme here which is if it isn't broken don't fix it.  Sure, the buses may be old, but they still work.  So, instead of spending money fixing a perfectly good bus, why not throw a boom box and a big screen t.v. in it.  Surprisingly though with all that noise, bus etiquette is to be quiet.  You sit facing forward not talking, it's very hard for me not to sing along.  They also have an unspoken rule of moving back if someone older than you comes on the bus and give them your seat.  They have great respect for their elders.  Oh, and the buses are only one dollar no matter how far you are traveling.  Not too shabby, considering this is our only means of transportation.  We do hitchhike a lot too.  It's completely normal here.  Everyone has a pickup truck and they're all going in the same direction so you just hop in the bed of a pick-up truck and you're good to go.  I love it. 

Language
Hardest part of the adjustment.  I urge every person to go to a place where you don't speak the language.  Itis a wonderful learning experience.  I especially urge teachers to do it.  It is extremely challenging and you will get a better understand of how your ESL students feel.  My mentality completely changed towards ESL students.  I used to think I would do my best to help them in my class but now that I know how they feel I will work even harder to making them feel comfortable.  Now, I'm lucky to be in a place where everyone speaks English fairly well but Samoan is still their first language.  They will speak to us in English but then they will talk to their friends only in Samoan.  It makes you feel left out and even though I may want to contribute to the conversation, I can't. They don't do it maliciously it is just their native tongue and it's how they feel comfortable. When I had a meeting with my co-workers, they were all so nice and they would speak to us in English but when speaking to each other it would be all Samoan.  I kept wondering if I was missing out on something important.  I'm sure it's something I will have to get used to, especially on my island where English is less commonly spoken.  I think it will be a great learning experience for me. 

More culture to come....