A Dutch girl in Samoa: CH 6 ‘Polynesia’

Hello Everybody,

This month is the fourth month and entering the 16th week I am here. I arrived the end of January and will leave at the 2nd of July. So counting down from now it is about seven and a half week until my adventure ends and I go back home! Also I can take the last one and a half week off. This means my time at the school and hospital will be 6 weeks. My journey back home begins when I leave Apia Faleolo Airport on Thursday, 2nd of July at 06.15h. I will fly via Sydney and Singapore to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. On Friday, 3rd of July at 07.15h I will be on Dutch grounds again.

So now that everyone knows when I will be back, let’s focus on the present again. Annick and I went to a see a Baha’i temple at the 25th of April. There are only eight Baha’i Houses of Worship in the world. One of these Baha’i temples is here in Samoa. In Tiapapata. The others are in Chicago (USA), Panama city (Panama), Santiago (Chili), Kampala (Uganda), New Delhi (India), Sydney (Australia), Frankfurt (Germany). I have never heard of the Baha’i religion, but now I know that it is established 1863 AD. originating from Persia. They believe in God and have nine principles. I found the temple itself not that beautiful, but the gardens surrounding the temple were very peaceful.

Next day we celebrated the birthday of Alana at the beach. There were many people, because there were also other family members and friends whose grandmother just passed away. Annick did not come. We drove about an hour before we reached the beach on the south side of the Island. Before Alana and the rest came with other cars, we decorated a fale and prepared lunch. Jacinta hired some fales for that day. We had a swim, lunch and blew out some candles. The weather that day was not that great unfortunately. It rained the last 2 hours when we were there. At that time I were in the warm ocean waters. I don’t experience this often, to be able to swim in the rain. The weather has still been the same ever since I got here. Humid, warm, sunny, cloudy or rain. The month May supposed to be the month where the dry season starts. It should be more agreeable, but I haven’t noticed any changes yet. Luckily, the temperature drops at night and up in the mountains is usually cooler. Also when it is raining, it is less hot.

The weekend from Friday, the 1st of May till Sunday, 3rd of May most of the volunteers and I went to Savai’i. This would be my third time that I go to this amazing Island. On Friday afternoon we got the two cars we hired for the weekend. We all arrived on time to catch the 16 o’clock ferry. The ferry took us in one hour to Savai’i. From the wharf it was around 30 till 45 minutes till we arrived at Janes Beach Fales. I drove the whole way, from Apia to the fales. I already have driven on the left side of the road in the UK and Ireland, but I have never driven with the steering wheel on the right side. Also the car was an automatic. Luckily, there is not much traffic outside Apia and not many roads. I brought all the people who were in my car safe to Savai’i. The other two days another volunteer drove the car. Because it was already dark when we arrived, we did nothing on Friday. We did a lot on Saturday however. The persons in each car went its own way. After breakfast we first went to visit the Saleaula lava field. The field was formed by the 1905-1911 eruption of Mount Matavanu. It covers around 76 square kilometres of northern and north eastern Savai’i and was one of the biggest eruptions of the 20th century. You can see a church at the site where the lave went. After walking around on the lave we got back on the road and drove to the next sighting. Less than 15 minutes away is the Peapea Cave. Also here you have to pay to visit, like anywhere else in Samoa. Peapea is a kind of black bird that lives here. We saw a few of them at the cave flying around. You could walk a little bit into the cave. A Samoan guided us and gave us some flashlights, while it was pitch black in there. When we got out of the cave again we drove to the rainforest on the north western side of the Island. There we did the canopy walk. You go high up the stairs and walk up a wooden hanging bridge many meters above the ground. For some it was fun, but for the most of us it was a bit scary. After the bridge you can go up higher via stairs that goes round a huge tree. From there you have a nice view of the forest. Next stop was Lovers Leap. This is just a nice view of some cliffs and you pay for the story that goes with it. On an information board was written: “A legend but a true story about an old blind woman and her daughter staying together with their family many years ago. The old lady’s anger after ignoring by their family at meal time to leave they came to the top of the mako with nothing else in mind but to jump down. The old woman picked up her daughter settled her tightly on her back before they jumped into the sea. On hitting the sea water the old woman suddenly changed into a turtle and her daughter into a shark. Ever since a turtle and a shark are often sighted as regular visitor appearing together in this very spot. Lovers Leap actually means the great love of an old blind woman to her daughter as they jumped down together.” We saw no turtle or shark, but we did see some more peapea birds. We took some pictures and got in the car again. Some volunteers hadn’t have seen the Blowholes yet, so we went there. Because I already have seen the blowholes, I did not take so many pictures as I did the first time. The experience wasn’t any less coming there for the second time. We wanted to go to some waterfalls and swim there, but it was raining unfortunately. We then decided to go to our next accommodation, which was at the family of one of the volunteers Samoan boyfriend. But before we arrived at the house we stopped at a black sand beach along the road to take some pictures. That was the last thing we did or saw that day. At the house we had a swim, shower, dinner and later on went to bed. Next day was a Sunday, so that means swimming, snorkelling, taking some more pictures and catch the ferry back to Apia.

While in Savai’i I learned from my father that I was in Saturday’s newspaper column. The PZC, local newspaper. The article is called ‘avonturier’ (adventurer). The first part of the column was about a Dutch girl in Nepal during the earthquake and then the article switch to me being in Samoa. My name isn’t mentioned, but I have been referred to in the article. A friend of my father writes columns and heard about me being on the other side of the world. I laughed when I read it. It was about being so far away and that there can be cyclones.

The 10th of May was also Mother’s day in Samoa. Mother’s day in Samoa means a special church service and a day off on Monday. I stayed at home that long weekend to experience Mother’s day with my host family and to take it easy. The mass dedicated to mothers on Sunday was almost the same as any other mass, except for a few things. The first was that the preacher talked about mothers. The second was that at the end of the mass, the mothers got an Ula (garland) made out of candy. The Samoans give or wear an Ula (made from flowers or candy) on special occasions. After the mass we went back home. The rest of the day they (family and friends) had a party (drinking, talking and music) in the fale. It felt almost the same as during Eastern. I am surprised about the amount of alcohol they are able to bear without having much food in their stomach. During the afternoon they only have some chips and salty bites. But it is also on other days and with other Samoans that are able to function without having any lunch. I am still surprised about this fact. I might be skinny, small or tiny (or whatever you may call it ;)), but my stomach is really protesting if I don’t eat something in the afternoon.

Now let’s see what else I can tell about Samoa. Ah yes, clothes. For example some women wear a Puletasi for work. It is hard to describe what Puletasi is. Well, I don’t really have to describe it, if I can show it. Because I have a Puletasi myself and will put the picture of it on my Facebook page. The Puletasi consist of two pieces. You have the kind of skirt/sarong called the Lavalava and a long kind of shirt for the upper body part. Furthermore, what I like about here is that the women (and even some men) and Fa’afafine put flowers in their hair. It is as we all know something typical Polynesian. I also like that is something typical in everyday life here. They use plastic as well as real flowers. I personally like the Aute flower (a red hibiscus flower). You see those flowers everywhere here. The girls here have furthermore such nice long black hair (also the typical Polynesian image we have) usually in a bun or braided. I furthermore noticed that there skin is very smooth. Not many have pimples or zits or whatever. It must be the warm humid air here, because even my own skin is better here than in the Netherlands. Back to the clothing, I almost forget about the shoes or rather the flip-flops. Almost everybody wears flip-flops everywhere and anywhere. You only wear shoes if you go exercising or if you require it for safety at work. The feet of the Samoans must be made of hard skin, because I see some Samoans just walk barefoot. I have seen children just walking barefooted on rocks or dead coral etc. Very impressive. Now I almost forget to tell what some men are wearing to work. They usually wear a black Lavalava with pockets and a shirt with Samoan prints on it.

Another typical Polynesian, our South Pacific, thing is the beach. Not just outside the water, but also inside the water is absolutely beautiful. Last Saturday (16th of May) my roommate Annick and I went to Piula Cave Pool. It’s half an hour with the bus. The water in the pool is fresh and cool. And in that pool are fish. Those are the biggest fish I’ve seen so far in Samoa. Because the water was very clear, you could see them swim around you. Truly amazing! The next day I saw some more fish, as I went to the Palolo Deep Marine Reserve in Apia. It was so hot that day and I really needed to have a swim to cool down. That place has such incredible coral and different kind of fish. I was happy I could borrow my roommate’s underwater camera (mine sadly doesn’t work anymore). Snorkelling here in Samoa is definitely a thing I will miss when I will be back home. I probably have been in the water for one hour. Too bad I don’t live at the beach, then I would swim every day and don’t have to pay for it. Palolo costs 4 tala.

I almost forget to show you how my Samoan vocabulary has extended over these couple of weeks. I probably forgot some words, but here are some I can come up with now.

afio mai - welcome
aiga - family
alofa - love
aua - don’t / stop
fa - four
fa’afetai (lava) - thank you (very much)
fa’amolemole - please
fale - house
fiafia - happy
ioe - yes
leai - no
lima - five
lua - two
lua sefulu fa - twenty four
maketi - market
manaia - delicious
manuia / lelei - good
matafaga - beach
mauga - mountain
moa - chicken
namu - mosquito
O a mai oe? - How are you?
palagi - white person
pepe - butterfly
sau - come
talofa - hello / welcome
tama - father
tama - boy
tamaiti - children
tasi - one
timu - rain
tina - mother
tofa soifua / fa - (good)bye
tulou - excuse me
ulufafo - exit
ulufale - entrance
vai - water
vevela - hot

The current volunteers at this moment (which are not so many now) are Annick from Luxembourg, Louise from Denmark, Alex from the UK, Florian from France, Tobias from Holland and Rachelle from Australia.

Do not forget to check my Facebook page ‘Psychologist Projects Abroad Samoa’ (http://facebook.com/psychologistsamoa) for photos and videos.

Lots of love from Samoa!

Naomi

For the non-Dutch readers: if you want to read my previous updates. I have translated the Dutch words on this site to English in my first update. You will find it on the left side of this update at ‘reisverslagen’ [= travel blogs] (below the photo of the beach). Next click on ‘new adventure awaits’, (name of my first update). Or you can click on ‘vorige bericht’ [= previous blog] below this update until you get to the first update.