Holiday Evan

So Cyclone Evan went out with a whimper, at least here in American Samoa. Independent Samoa, didn't fair so well.

Cyclone Evan, after devastating Samoa, was aimed straight at American Samoa. However the storm stalled, and turned away from American Samoa, managing to wreck further havoc on Samoa.

We didn't know this was how it was going to shake out. So we boarded up our house and prepared to hunker down through the storm. Once reports of possible 130 mph winds started to come from NOAA, Sara insisted that our house wouldn't survive a hit like that and checked us into the Tradewinds Hotel. Under protest I went along with this and we packed up a few days worth of good and drink to head over to the hotel.

We ended up holing up with a Lord of the Rings marathon. We didn't notice much wind from the confines of the hotel room and couldn't get updates on the weather as the internet at the hotel was frustratingly unwilling to connect to our laptop. After waking up the next morning, we learned the storm had turned away and spared our island any real damage. With no reason to stay in the hotel, we had breakfast, used their gym for awhile and headed home.

After cleaning up our cyclone preparations, we were left with a Thursday off from work on a sunny day. We opted to hang out with our friends and celebrate a holiday in honor of Cyclone Evan, which is the best possible way the storm could have gone.

The only damage we received was that we didn't get The Hobbit into our movie theatre on Friday. As a stout Tolkien nerd, this was some serious damage. I had to wait until Wednesday to see it. I guess you can't win them all.

Shore Day

The view from the Administrative Law Judge's courtroom looks out on the Port. The huge luxury cruiseliner dwarfs our otherwise small and sleepy harbor.

Cruise ships have become semi-regular visitors to our otherwise quiet island. It's an odd experience for those of us that work int he harbor.

Driving to my trial this morning was rather difficult due to the traffic that all the aiga buses caused trying to pick up fares in the form of island tours.

Furthermore parking at the ALJ Court was next to impossible, even the driveway was blocked by an aiga. It took blocking traffic and yelling to get into the parking lot. I ended up parking on the grass under the stairs (the only spot a bus couldn't fit). I also go accosted several times by people trying to take me to mediocre sights all over the island while dressed in time and carrying a file box full of exhibits. Sigh, just cause every other white person here in on vacation doesn't mean I am...

Christmas in the Tropics

It's been a little disconcerting to experience my first Southern Hemisphere Christmas. The weather's been hot and humid, with regular rainstorms giving way to the searing near-equatorial sun. Most weekends leading up to the holidays have either been too stormy to get out and do much or too hot to be out in the sun. So we've run to cover for the last few weeks.

Further social gatherings were fast and furious in the weeks leading up to the holidays. The Bar Association party was memorable as was the Legal Affairs office party (a special tip of the hat goes to Blake and his dancing...). However as the 25th approached more and more of our small palagi community began to catch the flights back to the mainland and home for the holidays.

About the time that Christmas Eve rolled around, our group of friends was severally reduced and we invited the crew we still had around over to spend the holiday at our house. Sara and I were happy to share one Sayles household family tradition with all of our friends, cioppino. For those of you who haven't experienced it, it's a traditional Italian fisherman's stew that has a long history in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the days leading up to Christmas Eve I was stunned to see good, cheap dungeness crab in a few of the markets here on island. While it was frozen, I wasn't going to let an opportunity like that pass us by. The rest of the shellfish was easy to find and swordfish stood as our whitefish. Then I was stewing the broth from the shells and trimmings in my brew pot on the stove. It was a full days worth of work to gather, prep and cook the ingredients, but once that tomato-y was ready, it all was worth it. Despite the fact that 90 degrees and rainy is not the normal temperature for hot soup, it helped make the holiday feel a little more like home in Northern California.

Halloween Pictures

Here are some context free photos from the Halloween Party our co-workers and friends Sarah and Joey hosted out at Lion's Park. A thanks also goes out to Meg and Sean, who decorated the party and out did themselves in a party reminiscent to a Lair-type gathering.