Masi Popo Houses

(Tyler) and My Masi Popo House

For our last playgroup before I left Samoa I really wanted to make Gingerbread houses. My friends Apu and Pura had never made them so I wanted to introduce them to it. Suzie and I searched the whole island for Graham crackers and couldn't find any. We tried all of our favorite "American goods" stores and no one had them. This morning Suzie came up with a great idea. We'll use Masi Popo. Its a biscuit like cracker they make here out of coconut, flour, sugar, and water. They worked great for our houses. The icing was melting in the heat but most of them lasted until we could at least get a picture. It became more of an adult project than a kids one. The kids had fun eating all the candy though. I was glad I could introduce my Samoan friends to one of our "Palagi" traditions.

Busy working away

The finished products

Trying to catch the Christmas Spirit

I have to say with 90 degree weather and 90% humidity everyday. Its been tough for me to feel like its Christmas time. I play Christmas songs on our Zune all day and have tried making some of my favorite Christmas treats, but its still a little tough. I need hot cocoa, cold weather and lots of Christmas lights (with electricity being so expensive here, you don't see many Christmas lights). A few weeks ago for Family Night we decided to crank the AC, make a version of hot cocoa and decorate our 1.5 ft. Christmas tree. I only bought 6 ornaments for it and Tyler took them off the tree as fast as I could put them on. He'd take off an ornament, yell "Ball!" and chuck it across the room. The tree has been moved out of Tyler's reach ever since. Only 6 more days til we're back in snowy Utah sitting around a big Christmas tree with all our family!

Funny Tyler moment: Tyler was carrying around our fly swatter today swinging at imaginary bugs and kept repeating the words "erry crifmas!" It took me a while to look over at him and realize he was holding the fly swatter high above his head, swining it down on a bug and yelling "Merry Christmas!" over and over again. I don't think it was very merry for that bug.

Big News

I have two big announcements for our family that we decided to make public. The first is that we're expecting another baby! I'm due June 20th. Like last time around, I've been feeling pretty sick during my first trimester, but I'm hopeful that its coming to a close soon as I enter my second trimester. We're very excited to have our family grow and for Tyler to have a sibling.

Our other big announcement is that we're moving back to the States in 2 weeks. Its a rather long story that I decided I won't post all of the details on a public blog, but you can ask us the details in another forum. We really feel its the right time for us to leave and are just having faith that we'll be able to find another job in the States soon. We'll be in Utah for Christmas and New Years and then spend some time in Maryland at the beginning of January. Although these past few months have been tough for me here, I find that I'm looking around now at all of the things about Samoa that I will miss. We both feel that its the right thing to do though and are very excited to be back around family and in our home country again. We fly home on December 22nd, but won't arrive in Utah until late on the 23rd (Its a long flight). Hopefully we'll get to visit with all of our old friends during the holidays.

Thanksgiving and Impetigo

This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving and I don't really have any pictures of our dinner. It didn't exactly go as planned anyway. Andy worked on Thanksgiving and Tyler and went over to campus for Thanksgiving dinner with the boys. Tyler ended up getting a fever and I had to leave early. Kye also wasn't feeling well (surprise, surprise). By Saturday they had both broken out in sores all around their mouths, legs, arms, and bum. We took them into the doctors office together and the doctor thought they had generalized herpes and were highly contagious! We were suppose to have another Thanksgiving dinner that day with people from church. We spent Saturday busy making our Thanksgiving dishes to send with our husbands while we searched google images for pictures of kids with generalized herpes and tried to get second opinions from nurses and doctors we knew in the states. After lots of possible diagosises from Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease to Chicken Pox we took them back into the doctor on Tuesday. Their sores were starting to heal but had formed blisters that were opening and then scabbing over (Sorry for the gross details). The doctor then diagnosed them with a mild case of Impetigo. (Tyler's was more mild than Kye). Apparently this is very contagious among kids and is an infection in their skin. Although they looked pretty awful for a few days, they're starting to clear up now and are back to their usual selfs. One more adventure in Samoa right?

Halloween - Samoan Style

Independent Samoa doesn't actually celebrate Halloween. Luckily a few people from our ward are Americans and still celebrate so they had a ward activity for kids to trick-or-treat to people's houses in the ward. We also had a Halloween Party for the boys at Andy's work, which I was in charge of so we still got our yearly dose of Halloween festivities. It was kind of late by the time the work Halloween party was over so we didn't get out trick-or treating till almost the boy's bedtime, but we still made it around to a handful of houses.Their costumes were my idea - Samoan slap dancers. It was a really cheap costume - only about $3 for the material and the necklaces were homemade by Suzie (thank you!). I know they took her a long time. The boys even performed a little dance for a few houses. Tyler doesn't really know what candy is yet and I decided to keep it that way for a year longer. He just didn't understand why we weren't going into everyone's house after they gave us candy. I'm sure he'll "get it" more next year.

Gratefuls

(Grateful #1 - My son)

Two days ago I had a very low point in our stay in Samoa. I came down with a cold Tuesday night and was feeling pretty lousy. Our car was in the shop for the 3rd time since we bought it and I had no way of getting anywhere. Andy was also sick and Tyler was getting his fourth and last molar . Its probably been one of the hottest weeks since we've arrived and on top of that we've had daily power outtages for at least 3 hours everyday. I was putting Tyler down for his afternoon nap when he looked at me and said "Prayer Time?" (from the mouth of babes). We don't usually say prayers before his naps, only before bed, but who can turn down a one year old who wants to pray. I started the prayer and said "Thank you for..." and felt like at that moment I couldn't think of a lot to be grateful for. Well I realized instantly that was what I needed to do - Be grateful.
So this is what my grateful list became:
1. a healthy, wonderful son who teaches me so to look at whats important when I'm feeling grumpy
2. a supportive, loving husband who provides for us with a good job
3. my family back in the U.S. that supports and loves us
4. a nice home
5. food on the table
6. an education
7. Electricity
8. My faith
9. Good health
10. The power to change my outlook

My Play Group Friends

These are some women who I've become friends with at church. We meet for a playgroup about twice a month. They're all amazing women who I've learned so much from and are a great support to me. Pictured above is Caroline. She's from Tonga and has five children who she calls her "soldiers." These are her youngest two.
Pura is from New Zealand and has lived in Samoa for a few years now. She has three older boys and Isara, almost three. She has the best accent, she always greets me with a kiss on the cheek and calls all of us "sistas."
Apu was born and raised here in Samoa but actually went to highschool in Midway, Utah. I feel like she understands me as an American living in a foreign land because she's done both. These are her two daughters, Spring and Nanni.

Cars, Balls and Dirt

Tyler is definitely a boy. His favorite things right now are cars, balls, and dirt. He loves to play in our yard and get dirty. He finds dirt and rocks in the potted plants and throws it around until he's a mess. Here are some pictures of a very messy day. Good thing he loves baths too.

American Moment

After watching the documentary "Super Size Me" several years ago, Andy and I vowed not to eat at McDonalds again. I seriously can't remember the last time I did. I've also said that I would never have my children play at a MacDonald's playland, mainly because of the germ factor and I've heard a lot of horror stories about those ball pits. Well on an island with very few, if any, toddler friendly play grounds, walking past the MacDonald's fenced in, all plastic, toddler friendly playland started to look a little intising. We decided to treat our children to their first ever MacDonald's Happy Meal, and allow them to play on the playland. Our compromise was giving them a "wipes bath" afterwards. Little did we know - its one of the biggest holidays of the year here in Samoa - White Sunday. In honor of White Sunday they had a special on Happy Meals for all children - $7 tala instead of the usual $10. Great for saving money - not great for beating crowds.
We were thrilled to see they actually had these little high chairs for them. I think they both enjoyed the "treat." Although Tyler is still on a hunger strike from his molars coming in and ate exactly one bite of one Chicken nugget and spent most of the meal sucking sweet and sour sauce off of french fries. I guess we'll be sharing a meal if we ever do it again. It was getting close to nap time and the boys were falling asleep in their high chairs so no playland time on this trip. Maybe next time. The free toy was hit on the way home though. Thank you MacDonalds for this small American moment in Samoa!

Endless Summer

So while all of our friends and family back home in the states are now enjoying cooler temperatures, long sleeves, falling leaves and apple cider - its still hot, humid and green in Samoa, the land of endless summer. Its been kind of strange for me not to have a change this time of year. I think I'll appreciate fall even more next year. So while everyone else may have blog posts about fall activities - we're still swimming in the pool, going to the beaches, and sweating all the while. Here's some pics of our trip to the local Aquatic Center on Wednesday. They have a big Olympic sized pool and a great kiddie pool with a slide. Tyler and Kye loved sitting on the edge of the pool, counting to three and jumping into our arms into the water.

A Bad Case of Molars

Over the weekend Tyler got a fever and started to act pretty lethargic. Kye had had a fever a few days before so we figured he'd caught something from him. He wouldn't eat anything on Saturday afternoon, fell asleep at 5:45 pm and slept until 6:45 the next morning! He had a fever on and off Sunday that got up to 103 at one point. We kept up with the Tylenol and tried to make sure he at least had fluids even though he ate next to nothing. Sunday afternoon the drool fountain started for Tyler and still hasn't stopped. He had a rough night sleep last night too. Suzie took Kye into the doctor on Saturday because he had similar symptoms. The doctor thought all of it was probably being caused by his molars coming in. I started wondering if it wasn't the same for Tyler. This morning I decided to inspect his mouth a little closer only to find out he's getting all 4 molars at the same time and at least 2 of them had broken through all ready. It just seemed funny to us that Tyler and Kye would have the same symptoms and be getting the same teeth in days apart from each other. Who knew getting molars was contagious?

The Reunion

Suzie and Kye went to America for a wedding and were gone most of September. Tyler and I missed them a lot. It was a great reunion for the little guys. They got to show off all of the new toys they got from America. There's lots more trucks and cars to go around now.

Here's a pictures of the two of them watching a Signing Time video. Tyler loves them! (Thanks Aunt Carin). He sits on the couch and yells out all the words and attempts some of the signs. Its the only video he'll watch from beginning to end.

We're coming to America!

So we decided after a lot of thought and financial planning that we're coming home to America over Christmas for 3 weeks (Andy will stay 2 and Tyler and I'll go to Maryland for one extra week). Andy's brother is getting married two days after Christmas so we decided we didn't want to miss out on that and have the chance to be with our family over Christmas. I can't wait to see everyone, for Tyler to play with his cousins, to wear sweaters and have cold weather (never thought I'd say that), and to eat Cafe Rio!

Our first Visitors!

Andy's mom, Paula and her sister Ginger came to visit this past week. We were so excited to have our first visitors in Samoa and share with them everything we've experienced here. They were great guests and had lots of stamina to fit everything in we wanted them to see and do in just 6 short days. They wanted to experience everything in Samoa, the good, the bad and the ugly. It was a great chance for Andy and I to have a little time out experience too.
Tyler loved having "Gamper" here too (how he says Grandma). He followed her around and always wanted her to hold him. Paula also brought us 4 suitcases full of stuff we wanted from the states. It was like Christmas morning for us. She brought everything from diapers to tennis balls to bug repellant to some great hair gel for me. It was sad to see them go, but we're glad Paula will be coming back for even longer in February. Anyone else who wants to visit - the invitation is always open!
FiaFia night at the Sa Moana resort. We're eating traditional Samoan foods cooked in an Umu on placemats made out of banana leaves.
Our hike through Togitogina National Forest. Tyler loved riding in Kye's backpack on Andy's back. He was a good sport, as always.

Lalumanu 10K

Suzie and I had been training for a 10K charity race for the past 2 ½ weeks. Unfortunately 2 days before the race Suzie got sick and decided she’d better not run it since she was leaving the following Monday for American and didn’t want to be sick for the trip. Andy decided that he’d run it with me, even though he hadn’t trained.
So we left at about 5:30 that morning with Tyler and the Seller’s jogging stroller in the car to be at the other side of the island by 6:30 since the race started at 7:00. We miss calculated how much time it would actually take to get there and ended up being 15 minutes late. (Tyler also randomly threw up on the way there so we had to stop in the middle of some village, get him out strip him down and clean him up- he ended up being fine after that). So we pulled up to the start line, hurried and got out the stroller and started the race 15 minutes behind everyone else. The race was a half marathon, 10K, and a 3K. It was an out and back race so we got to pass everyone coming back on our way out. It was definitely not the same crowd that turns out for the Freedom Run in Provo every Fourth of July. I’ve never seen so many people run barefoot or in flip flops. My favorite was one man who ran the 10K in church shoes, dress socks, a lava lava and a t-shirt. He was probably in his 50s and ran and walked the whole way. He finished after Andy and I and jumped up and down pumping his fists as he galloped across the finish in his lava lava. I loved it.
Andy and I stood out a lot in our microfiber shirts, our Mizuno running shoes and our baby jogger. Tyler was a great sport during the run and kept dropping cheerios for the wild dogs. We had one dog follow us for about 3 miles. It was a beautiful course though, all along the beach road. I still don’t know what our time was and I don’t really care. This picture of us crossing the finish line ended up making it into the Sunday paper here in Samoa with an article about the race.

Savaii

Its been awhile and I need to catch up on my blog entries. Here's a short synopsis of our August trip to Savaii. The other larger island that makes up Western Samoa. Its about 20 years behind this island. But its beautiful and untouched. We had to take an hour and half ferry ride to get over there which was way over crowded and not very safe for toddlers. Andy was a good sport to hold Tyler most of the way over. But once we were there we had a blast!

We swam with turtles

We swam in waterfalls

And we visited some beautiful beaches.

Interesting fact; Savaii is the farthest western land mass before the International Dateline. There are some places on Savaii where on a clear day you can see to the Tongan islands which are across the International Dateline and technically in the next day. So some say - you can see into the future. We sat next to a man on the ferry on our way over who was from a village on Savaii. When we asked him where his village was he said “I live where the sun sets.” I’m not sure he even understood how poetic that statement was because when I started to tell him how true it was with the proximity of the International Dateline, he didn’t seem to follow me. I thought of that statement a lot though as I sat on the beach later that evening and watched a near perfect sunset. There I was where East meets West and Today meets Tomorrow and where the sun would set for the last time that day. I thought: this will make a great blog entry.

Kalala

This is a picture Andy took of Tyler and Kalala on Monday. I am so grateful for Kalala. I've talked about her in quite a few of my emails, but for those of you who don't get those - Kalala is our helper. She watches Tyler four days a week for about 2-3 hours and cleans my house and does my laundry. She is every mothers dream. She has made life so easy for me here in Samoa. And the best part of all is that Tyler loves her and she's so good with him. It makes me feel so good when I'm working upstairs and I hear Kalala reading books to Tyler or singing songs with him. As soon as she arrives Tyler tells her "down, down" and points to the floor near his toy bin so she'll get down on the floor and play with him. She's always telling him "Good boy, good boy." and giggles when he'll repeat a Samoan word she says. I just feel so lucky to have her during our time in Samoa.

Beach Boys

Saturday we all decided we needed a day at the beach. Although the weather looked variable in Siusega we decided to venture over to the other side of the island. It was beautiful there. We went to a beach Andy had been to on our Anniversary trip a few weeks back. It was perfect for the little boys. We were they only ones there and the water was only ankle high on the boys for yards and yards. They just walked around in the water and splashed and had a great time. I think Tyler is progressively getting over some of his beach phobias and dumped sand all over himself and walked by himself in the water. Nathan found a few coconuts and husked them to make some toys for the boys in the water. Later, Andy and Nathan played batchie (sp?) ball with them.

Chief Squish Pic

This was the "Chief Squish" picture I really wanted to post with my blog awhile back. It was on Nathan's camera and I only just found it. This is what I mentally think of - Tyler on his Samoan throne (his high chair, by the pool).

Tee Time

I've decided to take up golf. We have a beautiful PGA style course within walking distance of our house and it only costs $3 to rent a driver and get a large bucket of balls, and 9 holes is $4 a person. I haven't actually tried any golfing on the green yet. I've still been practicing a few times a week at the driving range. Suzie's a good teacher though and she helps me get in lots of practice. The boys sit in their strollers and watch us. This is one of those things I'm sure I'll miss after leaving here. Where else can you get a view like that for such a great price, within a short walk from your house?

Morning Exercise

Suzie and I decided to start an exercise plan this week after a motivating talk at church on Sunday. We've been walking in the mornings around the sports complex and will hopefully be able to run once I get my jog stroller here. One day we did a little kickboxing with Denise Austin too, just to get some variety in.
This is a picture of Tyler with my running shoes on after our morning walk. After this picture I decided to do some crunches (it had been awhile). As I laid on the floor to do my exercises, Tyler decided to sit next to me and tried to do his version of crunches too. He sits up and brings his face to his knees at the same rhythm that I do my crunches. Never can start too early.

The Creepy Crawlies

About 8:00 Saturday night, Andy and I went out onto our front porch to change the light bulbs. He was standing on a chair to reach the lamp lights while I held the flashlight. Its pretty dark at 8:00 around here and usually going out onto our front porch you see a lot of geckos and some rather large cockroaches up on the ceiling or on the outside walls of the house. Because our outside lights don’t work we haven’t been able to see much else.

Well as I shine my flashlight into the corner for Andy, I see a big black mass out of the corner of my eye. I whip my flashlight around to see a cane spider about the circumference of a soft ball creeping along where the wall meets the ceiling of our porch. Not only is it extremely large, its carrying an egg sac about the size of a quarter. I yell “Andy!”

“Geez! what!?”

About the time he would usually reprimand me for making too big a deal over little bugs - he sees the spider too and yells - “Geez! That things big”.

We hear Suzie yell out the window “Are you okay over there?”

“Nathan you gotta see this!”

Unfortunate for me the spider is hanging onto the wall just above where the screen door opens to get inside.

I’m stuck.

I run around to the back door, yelling “Kill it! I don’t want that thing procreating or leaving its egg sac anywhere near my house.”

I go inside and get our bug spray. Nathan is fascinated and more than willing to kill it with the spray. Suzie finally musters up the courage to come over and have a look too. We watch from the sidelines as Nathan sprays the giant spider. Because of its size it takes quite a lot of ant spray to slow it down. Finally it drops to the floor and separates from the egg sac. Nathan sees that tiny Cane spiders are already starting to emerge from the egg sac. He quickly doses it with spray and steps on it. The spider finally gives up the fight, curls up and dies as well.

I’m a little worried about the few stray baby cane spiders that might have escaped and gather up the courage to come forward and spray the perimeter of the porch next to the house to prevent any spiders from entering the house. Well there’s quite a large crack along the foundation of our porch separating the porch from the house. This is exactly where I sprayed.

No more than 30 seconds passed when the next sequence of events happened.

“Move!”

That’s all Suzie and I needed to hear before we lunged into the house. We turned around and saw that Nathan had trapped a 5 inch long, thick centipede underneath a table leg on the porch.

Just then Andy says “No way! Over there!” A 6 inch long, also very thick centipede emerges from another part of the crack. Nathan climbs over the railing to go after it and kill it. Suzie and I are in the house still and hear:

“Give me the spray”

“ I don’t have the spray”

‘Kill it with the rock”

“Give me the flashlight”

“Do it!, Don’t be such a pansy!”

After about a minute, they tell us its dead and Suzie and I come out to have a look. As we’re peering over the railing looking at it, Andy yells “Look out!”

We again, run into the house, and look back to see another 5 inch centipede scurry past where our feet had been. More shuffling of feet out side, patio furniture moving around and yells back and forth from Andy and Nathan deciding whether to spray it or cut off its head and the third centipede of the night is also killed.

Whew!

While Andy was getting photo documentation , Suzie and I spent the next 15 minutes online researching centipedes, including what they eat, how painful the bite is, where they hide, and how to get rid of them! Everyone says, “Just cut off their heads.” Well lets just say this is easier said than done. Nathan said even when he’d trapped one of them under a table leg, it took a lot of work with a rock to get something that thicks’ head off. All I have to say is – I’m not going out onto the porch at night again with a flashlight. Ignorance is bliss.

Da Bugs

Living in a not-so-tight house and being in a humid climate, we get lots of bugs. Some are common like ants, earwigs, cockroaches (although none in the house so far) millipedes, mosquitoes, and flies. But then we get a lot of bugs I’ve never seen before like flies with yellow on their wings, or bugs that look half spider, half giant ant or the super flies that flap their little wings so fast they look like small pebbles hovering in mid air. And then there’s the greatly feared giant centipedes. These carry a really painful bite and can be harmful to young children and people with bee sting allergies (So Andy and Tyler). We’ve seen 3 since we’ve moved in. Only at night time. One small one and two that were probably 5 inches long. We attack these pretty aggressively with spray and then wait for them to die before throwing them away. We also saw a cane spider on the side of our house one night. They’re fast and huge! I’m glad we don’t have any of those INSIDE the house.

That’s one thing I’m grateful to Geckos for – eating the bugs! Although I still have to spray the occasional ant pile on the counter or squish some smaller spiders, the geckos take care of pretty much everything else. They still scare the day lights out of me when they scurry out of closets or run across the wall when I turn on the lights in a room.

So my intelligent little Tyler has watched my daily encounters with bugs many times and apparently learned a few tricks. I watched him the other day play with one of those small bugs with the hard shell that can snap when they’re on their backs to launch themselves into the air and flip over. We call them the jumpy bugs, sorry I don’t know the scientific name. Tyler got a kick out of this and watched him jump over and over again. Of course I have to tell him bugs are yucky and watch him close so he doesn’t try to put it in his mouth (he’s done this with live and dead millipedes before – gross!). While he plays with the bug he keeps pointing at it and saying “Da Bug…Eww!” and giggling. Then after a few minutes of playing, very calmly he walks into the kitchen, gets one of my shoes out of the shoe bin by the back door, walks over to the bug and whacks it with my shoe repeatedly till it’s a squashed mess on the floor and walks away. He’s actually done this several times since then and has become my partner in crime for squishing all of the bugs in the house. I guess that nick name is taking on more than one meaning now.

Battle Scars

One day last week Andy came home from work and I said “Tyler got bit today.” He suddenly looked panicked and said “By what? A mosquito? A centipede? A dog?” I said “No, Kye. Kye bit him.” Tyler had been playing with Kye that morning and like usual – they were fighting over a toy. Since Tyler is stronger, usually Tyler wins this fight. I guess Kye decided he needed to use another tactic. I hear Tyler let out a huge wail and look down to see fresh bite marks on his arm. Poor Suzie didn’t know what to do, because Kye had never bitten anyone before. Needless to say, Tyler did not mess with Kye after that, at least during that play session.

The night before Tyler fell while playing next to our coffee table and got his first shiner on his upper eye lid. Between his eye and his arm, he had quite the battle scars that day.

The Simple Life

This is a picture of our neighbor’s house on one side. One day I was walking past and no one was around so I really looked at the house and thought, “There’s nothing in it, how can someone live there?” Well another day as I was walking by I noticed some smoke coming from the back of the property. This got me thinking. That’s probably their kitchen back there, just a small fire or an umu (some larger leaves on top of the fire to smoke things). They probably sit on mats to eat and I know in traditional homes they use their fingers to eat too. They sleep on small mats at night and just roll them up in the morning and put them in the corner. Their house doesn’t have walls, but they use sheets when it rains or they want some privacy. Really what else do they need, at least for survival? It made me wonder – are they unhappy with the way they live? They’ve probably never been able to afford to leave this island and probably never will. They don’t have a television and may know little of the rest of the world. If that’s all we knew – would we be wanting more?

I’ve tried to take the Samoan’s perspective on us as the wealthy Americans - what they must think of us. It’s a little difficult because in America there isn’t any comparison. Most immigrants are seen as lower class in our country and have less than we have, not more. I really think this experience will change the way I see our country in the rest of the world or rather how the rest of the world sees our country. Its makes me think that U.S. citizens should not criticize the U.S. the way they do. They really have no idea how blessed we are to live there and have the government, freedoms, laws, and economy that we do. I’m seeing more and more this entitlement that’s growing in our country. Its ugly. That’s the only way to describe it. I think we could all learn a few lessons from living a more simple life.

Our Growing Boy

I decided after talking to my sister-in-law Richelle on Sunday that I’d wait awhile before leaving Tyler in nursery. She said that he probably will mature a lot by the time he’s 18 months and will be better able to handle the “structure” of nursery. So I kept him with me during church this past Sunday which is still difficult but I’ll deal with it a little while longer. Tyler and Kye have pretty different personalities. Kye is a little more laid back and likes to follow Tyler around. Tyler thinks this is great and will turn around and giggle when he sees Kye following him. Kye likes to give things to people which works well because Tyler likes to take things from people. Tyler always says Dank Doo when he takes it. At least he’s polite about it. Kye doesn’t really feel the need to get into every electronic device, trash bin, toilet bowl, cabinet, and clothes drawer like Tyler does. Kye’s a little easier to manage. He’s also a little younger so we’ll see what he’s like in a few months once Tyler’s deviant influence has rubbed off on him.

Sometimes when Kye gets too close to Tyler Tyler’ll give him a little shove. I’m not sure where this habit started but I’m trying to end it quickly. I tell Tyler “No, we don’t shove Kye.” And tell him to tell Kye sorry. He’ll say “sa ee” and do a kiss in the air. Of course there isn’t an ounce of remorse behind the apology but you can’t expect much more from a 16 month old. Tyler has decided that he’s even grown up enough to start calling Andy “Annie (his version of Andy). This habit was created only over the past few days. We always correct him and say Dad. I think he picked this up from me calling him Andy, especially on the phone. He talks on his cell phone now and says “Annie” over and over again.

Making Cookies in Samoa

I had a long talk with one of the owners on Monday, mainly about what they were going to pay me but also about our being Americans here and how we are perceived by the Samoans. Basically he told me that a lot of former American employees have left a bad impression on the Samoan staff here and have come across as pretty entitled. He made me more aware of some of the small things we do that make it look like we deserve better treatment than they do.

I thought about this a lot after he left. I made a resolve to not leave the same impression with these people. I don’t feel like I’m entitled and I don’t want to give them that impression. I’m a guest in their country and should act like it. I should feel grateful that so many of them speak my language while I haven’t made a huge effort to learn theirs yet. A few of the administrative staff have been particularly helpful in making sure our homes were cleaned and comfortable for us. So I decided to make sure I showed them how grateful we are for that. So I thought I’ll make them cookies – simple enough right? . . .

Although I was glad to find most of what I needed in town yesterday to make cookies, I couldn’t find chocolate chips anywhere. I remembered seeing them at a few stores but we weren’t close enough to walk to them with our huge bags, plus I figured they must melt so quickly here. Suzie had a good solution to use her M&Ms that she had brought from the states and put those in. So after lunch today I get out my ingredients to make the cookies and realize I have no measuring cups, large bowl, mixer, or cookie sheet. I decided to be resourceful and do the best I could. The only measuring device I had was Tyler’s bottle that measured in ounces so I used that to convert into cups and measure most of the dry ingredients. I had to eyeball the teaspoon measurement s on a spoon and just mixed everything by hand. I used the rice cooker container to mix everything in. I didn’t have a cookie sheet but I did have a cake pan. So surprisingly the consistency turned out right and things were looking good until I remembered that the degrees on the oven were for Celsius not Farenheight (sp?). I didn’t know the conversion and my internet wasn’t working so I couldn’t Google it either. I guessed what it would probably be instead and just kept checking on them every few minutes. Although they took 20 minutes to cook instead of the usual 10 – they actually turned out pretty good. They tasted yummy too, although who can go wrong with lots of butter and sugar?

Taxis

This past week we decided that since we still don’t own a vehicle and we’re tired of bumming rides off of the owners all of the time we’d start becoming more self-sufficient and use taxis. Of course the art of getting a good fare on a taxi in a foreign country where you’re seen as the rich American can be a frustrating business. On Monday, Suzie, Lindsay and I wanted to go into Apia to have lunch and look around at the shops. Andy just so happened to be coming home from town in a taxi so we used his to get back. Andy had already called around to find out what a decent fare should be and told the taxi driver that if he gave us that rate we’d get his number and use him regularly. So our taxi driver’s name is Wiser. We’ve called him several times now to pick us up to go get groceries in town or to pick us up in town and take us home. However, I’ve noticed that his fees seem to be going up each time he takes us. Originally it was 10 tala for a ride into town. But when he had to come pick us up from town it was 12 tala instead. Then when we asked if he could take us to the ATM for 2 minutes on the way home yesterday, it suddenly became 15 tala for the trip. So I’m not sure how wise it will be to continue to use Wiser. Although, his is very friendly and prompt and helps us with all of our gear with the babies. Another taxi driver we used one day told us it would be 10 tala to get home but when he saw where we lived he added on another 2 tala for the extra block it would take to get to our house. I told him I’d never use him again if he charged me that rate so he gave it to me for 10 tala instead. I guess you just have to be tough but I do understand that the price of gas for these drivers is outrageous right now.

Yesterday Suzie and I really needed to get some food in town so we put both boys down for naps at her house and had her sister-in-law Lindsay watch them while we took a taxi into town. I had brought my big beach bag to put our food in while we made our way around to the different stores. Needless to say after just going to the outdoor produce market we’d already filled that bag. Luckily they sell these really big bags made out of the same material tarps are made out of – that have big handles and are only a dollar or two. They sell them everywhere on the streets so we each bought one – and we filled those completely too. We looked pretty funny carrying around 3 huge bags filled with food that were pretty darn heavy. (I had to choose that day to buy 4 lbs of rice and 4 lbs of flour). Everyone kept trying to flag down a taxi for us, but we kept telling them we’d be fine or that we had already called a taxi that was coming for us. I felt pretty good though that we had figured out how to get into town, make our way around, and get home all by ourselves. We also discovered that going to the food market early is a good idea. There’s more variety and not everything is picked through.

Week 4

Things have definitely picked up this week. Last Friday we moved into our house finally!! We had been waiting all week for the houses to be professionally cleaned so we could move in. So Friday rolls around and they tell us they’re finally ready and start moving furniture over from the house we had been staying in. Well we come over to the house and although the floors had probably been swept and the cabinets cleaned out – it had not been otherwise cleaned. We spent the rest of the day going to the store and trying to buy things we needed like trash bins, buckets, mops, brooms, etc but then coming home and cleaning everything before we could unpack. We couldn’t really start cleaning until Tyler went to bed either. Then it was rearranging furniture, wiping everything down with Lysol and then unpacking. We didn’t go to bed until 1:00 in the morning.

It’s a good feeling to finally be settled in one place and know you’ll be here for awhile. Its been over a month now since we’ve been in a house, all to ourselves. The weather has gotten nicer too, not very much rain, dryer and a little cooler. We’ve been trying to not use the AC but our house stays pretty cool with the windows open and a few fans. I really like our house actually. It’s a little more private since its in the back of the property and surrounded by trees on three sides. The balcony off of the guest room/ my office upstairs is great too. It has a great breeze and its very peaceful up there. The kitchen is big and open to the our little sitting area with couches and a t.v. At the other end of the house is a sliding glass door that goes out to a little patio. I definitely think both houses have their perks and I’m happy where we are.

I also finally met with one of the owners to go over my job responsibilities last week. So I was able to start doing some stuff this week but its been a little slow with trying to get internet, get a working computer etc. (Nothing is wrong with our computer, they were just supposed to give me a computer for work and multiple keys on the laptop didn’t work on the one they gave me.) Plus they still haven’t told me what my pay will be. The other owner flew in this week on Wednesday and said he’d discuss it with me on Monday and that I shouldn’t do anymore work until we’ve negotiated something. I hate discussions like this because I don’t ever really know whats reasonable and I’m never one to say – no that’s not enough money for me. I don’t’ know everything about the finances in the company and its not like my income is the sole income for the family so its difficult for me to know how to approach it. So we’ll see what happens. They seem like reasonable people so I’m sure we’ll work something out that all parties can agree on.

Andy and I have also been in the middle of a big mess with trying to buy a car. We were supposed to buy a Kia sedan but had some reservations about it. Well meanwhile one of the staff at work told Andy about a friend he had who had a nicer newer car and we would be able to get parts for it more easily and it was a little less expensive. So we look at that car on Sunday and tell him we want to buy it and set it up to get the car and pay him this Wednesday. Well something with our credit card didn’t work out and we could only get a third of the money to him that day. When Andy was talking to some people at the bank after the man had left they asked what car he was buying and for how much and multiple people told him he was paying way too much for it and he’d be lucky to get half of that in a year when we need to sell it. Well on top of that the check engine light suddenly came on that day and the driver’s side window wasn’t working right. So…it turned pretty sticky when Andy confronted the guy on it and he threatened to sue if we didn’t get him the rest of the money by 4:00 Thursday. So we had to make a few calls to people in the company that hold some weight in the community to make sure this guy couldn’t sue us for having buyer’s remorse. Andy had to meet with a Samoan lawyer today too (for only $25 US dollars) just to make sure we’re doing everything right and then he’ll have a meeting with the guy tomorrow to either negotiate a better price or say –“hey we don’t want it anymore. Give us our money back.” The only problem with option 2 is that we think the guy has already spent the $6,000 tala dollars we already gave him…. So I’ll let you know next week how the story ends. Right now I’m just fed up with it and don’t want to deal with it anymore. Plus the car is a stick shift which I don’t drive and wasn’t really crazy about learning here – in a foreign country where they don’t’ exactly follow the same traffic laws as in the U.S. At least they haven’t switched to driving on the left side of the road yet otherwise that would definitely be a recipe for disaster for me.

(** It’s the next day and the story ends that – Andy went in there all ready to negotiate with the guy for a better price, or to have the car fixed etc. Thinking he didn’t have our money to pay us back. Well the guy just got on the phone and said “I already have another buyer for the car. Meet me today with the car and I’ll give you your money back.” He was very apologetic about threatening to sue and seemed more reasonable. To me that says how much weight this woman Breda has in the community because as soon as we got her involved, he backed down and was willing to work with us more. So…long term I think we’ve learned some lessons that will help us buy a better car in the future – short term – we still don’t have a car. )

So in other news – Suzie came on Wednesday! I’m so excited to have more people here and to have a friend. Tyler has been so cute with Kye too. They follow each other around the house and talk in gibberish and get into trouble together. They get into fights occasionally too when they want the same toy, but I think they’re good for each other. Because our houses are so close together and we usually have the windows open you can hear the other baby crying (or the baby next door). There have been a few times in the middle of the night that I thought Tyler was crying and went in and he was fast asleep and it had really been the neighbor’s baby crying. But for the most part a mother knows her own child’s cry and I know when its Tyler. Anyway, this morning they had just put Kye down for a nap and he was quite sad about this and was crying pretty loud in his crib. Well I’d also put Tyler down for a nap, but he had also decided he didn’t want to sleep. Tyler’s room is in the front of our house and Kye’s room is in the back of theirs so they’re directly across the yard from each other. Well as Kye is sobbing in his crib – Tyler is yelling out the window of his crib – KYE! KYE! KYE! It was the cutest thing. It was like he was saying “Its okay buddy. It’ll get better. You’ll adjust.”

I can tell its been hard on Suzie with the initial shock of being here. I see her going through all of the same emotions and frustrations I did a few weeks ago. In a way its hard because I feel like I’ve come to a better place with it and its like reliving it again to see her go through it now. Its been nice though to have someone around to talk about everything with. Nathan’s sister Lindsay is also here for two weeks.

I feel like I’ve had a lot of ups and downs emotionally this week. Surprisingly I haven’t cried since I’ve been here. I guess I am one to keep things to myself emotionally. So I haven’t had a breaking point that low yet. I was feeling really good about being here this past week and loving being settled into our house, unpacking, having good weather etc. Then all of the business with the car kind of left a bad taste in my mouth about Samoans for some reason. I think that combined with a bad experience I’d had on Tuesday trying to convince the cleaning guy that he was supposed to clean Nathan’s house and our upstairs because he’d never done it the first time was frustrating. It wasn’t until I brought up Breda Fitua’s name and told him I’d talked to her that he took me seriously and actually did what I was asking him. I guess I started thinking – can I really trust these people? Do they all just see me as some silly Palangi trying to live in another country? Or do they just see me as a rich American that they can take advantage of because they think I have money? Obviously I can’t stereo type everyone that way, but it made me a little less trusting. Also, since we’ve had high speed internet I’ve been in contact more with friends and family back home and checking blogs and its made me more homesick. I was reading one friends blog about all of the fun summer stuff she’s doing with her kids and I just thought – that’s what I should be doing right now with Tyler – normal summer stuff like going to the pool, the zoo, the park etc. Instead we’re wandering the street of Apia with thick layers of bug repellant and sunscreen, shooing away wild dogs and trying to find some toys that aren’t 4 times the price I’d pay in America. Of course when I was telling Suzie this yesterday she made a good point that yeah, maybe its sad we’re not doing those things, but I bet a lot of people are looking at our cool beach adventures and saying – I wish I were doing that this summer. Its all how you look at it I guess.

I also have started to become sick of rice and pasta. We eat one or the other for almost every meal. White rice I am especially getting sick of. I think I will have to get over this though because its cheap and served with almost every meal here. I also haven’t watched a television since I’ve been here. No, I did not get to watch the season finale of LOST and it will take up too many of our allotted mega bytes on high speed for the month to download it. I’m mourning that as well. For the first time last night I really had the urge to just sit on the couch with some chips and salsa and forget about the day while watching Law and Order. I miss my Law and Order….

Of course I know I will get past this. I feel like what’s keeping me going right now is having realistic expectations about my experience. I know there will be ups and downs all along the way and that what I’m feeling right now is completely normal and will pass over time. I look at my sister Sarah who’s nearing the end of her “living abroad” adventure in India and feeling slightly envious that she’ll be back in the states soon. However, Sarah says that’s she’s feeling sad about leaving and that instead of looking forward to all of the conveniences she’ll now have in the states, she’s thinking about what she’s had in India that she’ll never have again.

*** I’m writing this section the next day as well. I got to drive for the first time in a month today. We borrowed the owner’s car and Suzie, Lindsay, Tyler, Kye and I went into town to go to the market. We loaded up on bananas, pineapples, avocadoes etc. Suzie served a mission in Hawaii so she’s more familiar with the island fruit and could identify stuff for me and was more adventurous about trying new things. I was proud of myself for being able to drive around town though. Every time I do it the town becomes smaller and I realized a few stores were closer to each other than I thought. I could park my car in one place and go to 4 different stores that I like all within walking distance. Suzie brought her jogging stroller and we discovered that if we don’t buckle them in we can fit both Tyler and Kye into her stroller just one behind the other. It made it easier to walk around today and may be a good temporary solution. The boys were good sports about it too.

Chief Squish

In Samoa there is definitely a hierarchy, as far as who’s treated the best, served first, etc. Chiefs are at the top of this, their lesser council men below them and I know missionaries of all faiths are pretty high up there too. Well I’m starting to think that Palangi babies, more specifically Tyler, are also up there with the chiefs and the missionaries. While we were at the restaurant, the two young waitresses would wipe Tyler’s mouth for him, feed him his cheerios, and hold his sippy cup up to his mouth for him. Tyler was loving the attention. They’d give him kisses and he’d kiss them back. Every time they’d leave he’d fuss so of course they’d come back over and play with him. As we were leaving all of the waitresses said “Bye Tyla, Bye Tyla.” Pretty much every restaurant we’ve gone to the waitresses know “Tyla” by name by the time we leave and tell him to come back and visit. He’s definitely like royalty around here.

*For those of you who don’t know. “Squish” is Andy’s nickname for Tyler because he’s kind of a “squishy” kid, especially those cute thighs : )

Tyler's First Day in Nursery

We have 11:00 church which has always been tough for Tyler since its in the middle of lunch and nap time. Combine that with no AC and you have a very grumpy antsy 1 year old. I spent most of last Sunday out in the courtyard with him since he didn’t want to sit still during Gospel Doctrine. I was walking past all of the classrooms, which all have windows so you can see in and noticed where the nursery was. The leaders told me I could come in and join them. It was air conditioned in there and they had out lots of toys with only a few kids. The nursery leader told me they only had 5 kids that day and about 4 leaders. (They usually have over 10 kids) So although I told her Tyler was only 15 months, she told me he could stay as long as he didn’t cry. In my mind I’m thinking “Ok, bud - now don’t bIow this. They’ve got air conditioning, snacks, toys and friends to play with. This is your big chance: An early intro to nursery. “ I knew Tyler would probably throw a bigger fit if I tried to take him away from the toys so I decided to take advantage of the chance to enjoy Relief Society. Tyler’s usually fine with babysitters and never cries, and if there were toys and other kids around he’d be fine.

Well about 30 minutes into Relief Society I look over and see Tyler trotting down the aisle with a big smile on his face and remnants of a tear on his cheek. He’d been kicked out of nursery on his first day…I looked back to see the nursery leader walking back to the classroom – she hadn’t even bothered to make sure I saw him before she left! I’m kind of curious now what happened that he started to cry. I’m quite sure it wasn’t because he missed me. A more likely scenario was that either Tyler wanted a toy that some other kid wanted too and a fight broke out with some tears or he wanted to do something the leaders didn’t want him to do and Tyler’s strong will came out with some tears. I think I’ll sit in and observe for a week or two next time before I leave him for good. I do worry a little about the cultural differences in raising children here. I see a lot of kids Tyler’s age just wandering around the yard, unattended by adults and I wonder if this kind of mentality is true in the nursery too. I’m also wondering if this “no crying” rule is a condition they put on the 18 month olds too. If so, I’m thinking they must either have some really well behaved kids in there or they’re frequently returned to their parents.

P.S. Tyler also started walking the day after we arrived in Samoa. I knew he was holding out.

The Rain

We were told that its been unseasonably rainy since we’ve been here. More like weather for the rainy season. I was glad to hear it doesn’t get any worse. It rained really hard all night Friday night and was still raining the next morning. With a tin roof, it made it hard for poor Nathan to sleep upstairs. When we woke up on Saturday morning the pool was overflowing. We had a small river running through our front yard. Andy and Nathan thought it’d be fun to swim in the overflowing swimming pool and the pouring rain. It reminded me of 7th grade science class when you learn about water displacement: watching the already overflowing pool create huge waves of water and run off into the lawn as Andy and Nathan did cannon balls into it. They stayed out in the rain and played for a good hour and half. It’s a warm rain so it wasn’t like they got cold. So much water was running out of the gutters that Andy decided to take a shower in one of them. We have a lot of pictures and videos of all of this. Once the rain had finally stopped around noon we decided to venture into town with David’s car and get some grocery shopping done. Well even several hours after the rain had stopped a lot of the streets downtown were flooded and a lot of the stores had to be sandbagged. There were fire men standing in the flooded streets directing traffic. We parked about a block from the produce market and got out and walked through the muddy water to the market. I had to roll up my jean capris as I waded through it so they didn’t get wet. I heard some Samoan girl say to her friend something about the Palangi’s and then “Welcome to Samoa.” This was my first time to the market though and we were able to get lots of stuff.
On our trek back to the car we had to wade through the same street with water in it. As I was walking Andy told me to watch out because the sidewalk dropped down, well just then I took a step down into a hole and sunk down into water up to my thigh. I had to put my hands out in front of me to catch my fall and got my rain jacket all wet too. I got a nasty bruise on my ankle and knee too. Of course a bus full of Samoans drove by just then too and everyone on the bus was laughing at me. I had one dry leg and one wet one for the next little while as we made our way around to different stores. Little kids would follow me and point and laugh.
Generally it rains at least once a day, usually more. Its tough to plan walks when the rain clouds come in so fast. The other day I wanted to go for a walk with Tyler. The next sequence of events happened over the span of about 30 seconds. I suddenly realized it wasn’t as hot anymore. I looked up and saw that rain clouds had come in, I turned the stroller around to head home, I heard it in the trees first, like a big wind gust was coming, and then the rushing. It poured, so hard and so fast, like the hardest rain you’ve ever seen in Utah. I just started running back for the house. Within about a minute I was completely soaked. I tried to put the cover over Tyler, but he still managed to be soaked too. About the time I arrived back at our driveway, of course the rain had stopped. I still decided to call it quits and put some dry clothes on. This has happened to me several times. That day was probably the hardest it rained on me though. Tyler doesn’t seem to mind the rain. Even when it poured that day he didn’t want to go back and didn’t make a peep when he was getting soaked. When we’re inside and it starts to rain hard he runs to the window on the sliding glass door and yells “REEN!” (his version of rain) and puts his nose against the glass to watch it come down.

Wild Dogs

So we were told the wild dogs were mainly in Apia, the city, but we quickly realized this isn’t true. They’re pretty much everywhere. We’ve had a few wander into the yard and at one point we found 5 of them fighting in our back yard. Everyone’s trash bins (where they throw their bags of trash to be picked up by the garbage truck) are at the end of their drive ways in a big wire box about 6 feet off the ground. This is to prevent the dogs from getting to them. You always see lots of trash lying around by the trash bin though so I’m guessing some dogs must be good jumpers? Anyway, we’ve been told by everyone multiple times not to approach the dogs (hence why they’re called wild dogs?) and that they can be aggressive when foods around. This has deterred me sometimes from walking around by myself. However, the Samoan people are ruthless with the dogs and will pelt them with rocks if they get anywhere near them. Consequently, the dogs have been conditioned that if you just bend down like you’re going to pick up a rock, they run away. Lucky for me the threat works, because I’m quite sure if the dogs knew how poor my aim actually was – they would not be running

Paradise

Saturday was an exploration day. Lou, the clinical director, took us around the island all day on Saturday. The really nice beaches are actually on the other side of the island and take about 45 minutes to get to. We really got to see a whole new part of Samoa and all of its great beauty. We visited a few waterfalls that were really rushing after the rain we’d been getting. We drove through quite a few small villages too with more fales, wild dogs, chickens and pigs. A lot of the kids run around half naked – one because its hot, and two I’m sure because they’re pretty poor and don’t have much clothes.

Lou took us to a great beach where they have small fales right on the water. All of the beaches are owned by the local villages so usually someone will come out and ask for some money to use the beach and one of the fales. Its about 5 tala per person or 2-3 U.S. dollars. We got to go snorkeling here and Tyler got to swim in the ocean for the first time. It was an overcast day, but there was a great breeze and no one else around! Its strange – the Samoans don’t swim in the water and there really aren’t a lot of tourists either. So we were the only ones on the beach. Andy and I got to go out snorkeling while Nathan watched Tyler. We saw so many bright colorful fish and some bright blue star fish. The current taking you back in to shore was pretty strong so it was a good workout too trying to stay out far enough to see some fish. We’ll have to go back often to do that. As we were leaving a few kids from the village came out and Andy took their picture and talked to them for awhile. Andy’s has his charm with kids and they were all gathered around him smiling and laughing while he showed them their pictures.

The following Saturday we went to Vavau beach. Its probably our favorite spot thus far. There’s a little resort right on the beach with this little cove and small islands right off shore. Its hard for me to describe right now. But the cliffs, shallow water, tall palm trees and secluded area made it all beautiful for us. We sat in the shallow water for awhile and played with Tyler. He still doesn’t really like the sand and it takes him a little while to warm up to being in the ocean, but I think he’ll get used to it.