Government Housing

Contract workers who come to American Samoa usually end up living in housing provided by the American Samoa Government. Out of that group, most end up residing in Lion's Park, the large complex of housing near the Pala Lagoon. This plot of land was created by draining a marsh meaning that there were no Samoan villages there. Thus it was easy for the federal government, followed by the Territorial government, to build housing there for the off-islanders that were working here.

It's putting it mildly to say most of the houses there are in bad shape. Less than half the houses are habitable due to damage from cyclones, fires, mold, rot and termites. There is no Samoan word for maintenance and the American Samoa Government often finds other priorities for its funds than taking care of the property and structures it owns, especially those inhabited by us palagi.


All of the houses that are inhabited in Lion's Park are also in various stages of decay. Most people's houses have termites that will come out at a certain time and fly around the house for 15 or 20 minutes each evening. This being the tropics, all houses have some amount of termites, mold and rot. Wood houses fair poorly in the heat and humidity. The climate also rusts and corrodes  the nails and other metal pieces holding it all together, a water clip left in the open will rust away in a few months.

Needless to stay whether occupied or left empty these houses are under constant assault from the climate and pests. If you're lucky you get a house that relatively few issues (like Sara and I). If not, you're waging constant war against the environment that trying to reduce your residence to rubble to line  the jungle floor.

We had a moment a week ago that typifies the confluence of all these factors in the government housing living situation. We were hanging out at another attorney couple's house in Lion's Park. During our third game of cribbage the husband got up to demonstrate one of our doctor friend's aggressive golf swings and lost his balance. This sent his shoulder into the plywood wall behind him that had some extensive termite damage. The force of the impact shattered the wall and sent shards of the papery plywood through into the kitchen. As it wasn't a structural wall there wasn't any real damage to the house. In cleaning up the pieces of wood that came from the wall we quickly figured out that the wall was toast. Using a few tools we quickly commenced an impromptu remodel and pulled down the rest of the paper remains of the wall. The end result was some unfinished cabinet ends, but otherwise an improved kitchen and dinning room, as the lack of the wall opened up both spaces. That's not something I would attempt in the real world, but living under the extremes of the tropics sometimes leads to odd situations like that.

Moving

So after thinking I was going to have to live with a floor that wanted to swallow me whole, hornets and wasps coming through my window screen and light bulbs that were corroded into their sockets; it looks like I'm moving. After a few of the issues in my original house were referred to the government housing office an inspection determined that the these issues were going to be long term problem. Now I'm being moved from Freddy's Beach #13 to #23.

The new place has got two air conditioning units in the windows. It's also wired with a 220V outlet for laundry, something I wasn't looking forward to doing at my old place. It's also got better cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. Plus, this is the view from the deck. You can just see the ocean peaking through between the palm trees, which is really all you can hope for when living on a island.

On the Island so far

Here is Sara and I's new home. We're in a spot called Freddie's Beach. It actually a block away from the beach, but there's supposed to to be some good snorkeling and fishing on the lava flows that make up the beach. The wild dogs everywhere were a bit much for me. When I showed up on the first night there were 5 camped out on my front patio. My place had been vacant for several month and it looks like they took advantage of the deck to escape the rain. They got into a few snarl fights during the evening (part of the reason I woke up at 3am), but a few days of activity at my house and they haven't made my porch their bed since then.

Apparently the strategy for dealing with the wild dog packs is to adopt one of the less trashy/diseased one. Feed him and treat him well and he keeps the rest at bay. Good thing I didn't try and bring Tucker, he wouldn't make it here.

The highlight of the trip so far was on the first morning. Daniel, a new coworker who arrived at the same time as me, bumped into one of our new neighbors on a walk and he showed us the way out to Airport Beach. It's a mile walk along the lava flows and the fence line for the airport, past a few WW2 pillboxes and some amazing scenery. Looks like this is going to be a spot with some great ocean access. We'll see if my work schedule will let me take advantage of these amenities.

I'll leave you with some romantic island shots, since the rest of the week has been spent getting me up to speed at work and dealing with all the bureaucratic nightmares that come from moving to a place that works on island-time full-time.