Fa’a Samoa is a phrase we use a lot around
here. It literally means the way of the
Samoans. It’s a good phrase to throw out
when everything is so different and you don’t have a clue how to handle it…fa’a
Samoa. I found myself using that phrase
a lot this week, it has been pretty hectic…to say the least. The first three weeks went pretty
smooth. All 30 of us World Teach
teachers had been living at a local high school together. We had a scheduled orientation and even when
things got crazy we still had the group to fall back on. It felt more like a summer camp and not as
though we were living here. This past
Saturday everyone split up and moved into their own homes all over the
island. Us small islanders are bunking
up with the others until we can finally go to our homes. As much as I was looking forward to moving
out, getting started, and sleeping in a real bed, I began to realize how
different it is when I don’t have that comfort to go back to every night. We are officially on our own out here now to
fend for ourselves and learn the culture and customs. It is terrifying but thrilling at the same
time.
Back to
this week ….I have definitely gotten a taste of real Samoa while trying to get
ready for Ta’u (my home island). Here are
many great aspects of Samoan lifestyle but the one part that I am still getting
used to is the extremely relaxed nature.
We start school this coming Monday, as in 4 days, and I just found out
that I am teaching 5th grade.
I am so excited about that, but I have no idea how many kids are in my
class. I also just found out that I am not leaving to
go to Ta’u until Monday afternoon…yes, the same day that school begins. While I
was freaking out about not being there for the first day of school other
teachers promised me it would be okay because most of the teachers won’t be
back on the Ta’u for the first day of school.
In fact, most of the kids won’t even be there for the first week of
school. Last year they had this problem
and they just pushed back the start of school a couple days. So I figured that if this happens I guess
they’ll just add the days onto the end of the year….Wrong. If we miss the first
week of school then we just miss it…no big deal. I wondered how my principal must feel about
all teachers missing the first couple days of school, but I don’t have to worry
about that either because we don’t have a principal. They haven’t found one yet so for at least
the first month we will be without. Fa’a
Samoa.
I haven’t
had a chance to worry about my classroom yet though because I have been so
worried about how I am getting all of my stuff to the island. There are two ways of transportation: boat
and plane. We are taking the plane on
Monday while our stuff left on the boat yesterday. There are no stores on the
island except a tiny store that carries just the essentials. We have to ship all of our stuff from the
main island to the remote island. For
the past couple days I have been going crazy shopping for 6 months worth of
food and supplies. The transportation
from Tutuila to Ta’u is really unreliable so we have to make sure we have
enough incase the boat and plane simultaneously break down for 3 months (not
uncommon). After 3 days of shopping I can safely say that I am prepared for Armageddon. Tuesday night I was informed that we need to
wrap all of our suitcases and boxes in garbage bags because they will probably
get wet on the boat. Also we may want to
duct tape everything real tight so nothing mysteriously disappears from our
bins on the journey. Technically people aren’t
stealing things, they just have a different idea about sharing than we do. They truly live by the philosophy, “What’s
mine is yours.” So there I was Tuesday
night packing, garbage bagging, and taping all of my stuff. 4 hours, 10 trashbags, 2 rolls of duct tape
and 1 bottle of wine later I was done.
Fa’a Samoa.
No comments:
Post a Comment