Ellen + Kevin = Ofu

So I'd written about 4,000 words on our trip to Ofu and it all got lost. I'm a little frustrated with the BlogSpot layout and I'll just post the pictures, until I can overcome my frustration.

Pese Practice has Begun

A unique Samoan cultural event has started to happen this week in our office. For an hour each afternoon, the whole office shuts down. All the employees filter out of their desks and head down to the lobby for Immigration. We then sit on benches and chairs pulled in from the Immigration Office. In the center of the room is a Casio keyboard. We then start practicing Christmas songs for an hour. In a few weeks our department (and all other government departments over the course of three evenings) will perform at the stage across the street from the legislature in front of the governor and the performance will be broadcast on TV. The name of this who deal is Pese.

As a person of limited musical talent, this is a bizarre use of my work hours. All but one of the songs we are working on are in Samoan, a language that has me struggling to say the name of the village I live in. Singing in it adds a whole other layer of difficulty. Not mention being asked to memorize lyrics has me wondering what I signed up for. Oh yeah and the lyric sheets we were handed out had several lines that we aren't singing. No one's bothered to explain this to us first-timers. We need to figure it out as we got or get yelled at in Samoan when the song leader takes umbrage with our signing. Worst of all, apparently the television cameras inevitably focus in on the palagi faces in the crowd. I'm sort of dreading this recital.

One fun component of all this is Sara and a few of our friends were tasked with choosing the fabric and design of the matching uniforms everyone from our department will wear for the performance. This meant that we went to the fabric store picked out a fabric that had a large enough amount to make shirts for the men and pulatasis for the ladies. The four people on the uniform committee had to debate and compromise their way to one fabric and design they could settle on. To ensure the printed fabric wouldn't run out, the rolls of it were placed on reserve. Our next task was to take the fabric to a sewing shot across the street and started having them knock up the samples that we can show the rest of the office the design. We were measured and the design was described, we'll be modelling the designs on Monday for the office.

I never thought I'd be using my law degree to entertain quite in this way. We'll hopefully be able to get some video of the performance to post...

Manu'a Flag Day - Let's Play Sloshball

Friday was Manu'a Flag Day. Meaning that 110 years ago, this was the day that the Manu'a Islands cession to American Samoa and thus the US. Nobody here on Tutuila makes a big deal about it. The Manu'a Islands are pretty small, remote and difficult to get to, only Ta'u is large enough to get commercial flights. Next year we may try and get there for the holdiay and see if the population of 800 people gets up and does anything special to celebrate. The one things that gets anyone's interested in Manu'a Flag Day on our island is the government gets the day off work. With most of the Palagi community off, one of our coworkers hosted a wiffleball sloshball game.

The game was hosted at the other large government housing facility, Lion's Park. We showed up on time, which was about an hour before everyone else. Oh, Island Time. The version of sloshball played here is team pitch wiffleball and is played on a pretty small field. No gloves or cleats are used and pegging a runner gets the fielding team an out. Runners must open a beer at second-base, which conveniently is a cooler. The beer cannot be put down until the runner finishes the beer, this includes after the runner gets out, takes the field or even comes up to bat again, otherwise it's normal softball rules.

We were blessed with some excellent weather. The unprecedented dry spell that's been lingering over the island gave us blue skies and a dry field, other than a pregame squall that rolled over the nearby lagooon. The experienced players had stories about deep mud, rain outs and brutal humidity marring past sloshball games.

We played a little over seven innings. With our team staging a comeback from being down big early in the game before the it was called due to darkness. This was fortunate, since the game was tied when it was called and neither team could claim bragging rights for this competition of skill and beer drinking.

Once the game was done the event turned into a barbecue and party. Most people had a good time hanging out after the game. A few of the World Teach Teachers stopped by after their orientation. Most of them were being prepared to be shipped off to outlying islands in a few weeks. That would make for an interesting experience for a year.

Overall it was an unexpected success. We had a great time hanging out, and outside of some late night antics by some uninvited Samoan guests that ended the evening on a poor note it was a fun time for all. Hopefully we won't have to wait 5 months until someone plans another sloshball game.

Christmas in June

Sara and I got a nice treat yesterday, our pallet of goods that we shipped out from California arrived. We received a call from the shipping agent that it was arriving on Saturday, but the customs office is only open on weekdays.

Thus we called and talked to the shipping agent on Monday. They said that they were open until 5pm. We headed over there after work on Monday. Turns out the shipping agent is open until 5pm, but the customs office and port are only open to 3:30pm. Thanks for the heads up on that one...

Tuesday morning I dropped Sara and our carpool off at work and headed over to the port. First I needed to get our paperwork from our shipping agent. To get them to give me the paperwork, I needed to pay $78.46. They only take check or cash, so a quick trip to the bank and I was paid up. Sigh. They turned over a few pages of paperwork.

Now, with our Bill of Lading and shipping agent invoice in hand I went into the port. I was directed over to the large warehouse. After trying a few different offices, I eventually found the one I was supposed to start at. They reviewed my forms and said go to the office at the back of the warehouse. Again, the offices were unlabeled at the back of the warehouse and after trying a few, a customs inspector pointed me towards the correct office. Double Sigh. They reviewed my paper work, signed one corner and then sent me to the guys with the forklift, to retrieve my pallet.

Turns out, my pallet was still packed in a shipping container. The container was still stacked somewhere on the pier. The suggested I come back at lunch and they would have my pallet waiting in the warehouse. Triple Sigh.

Since our computer server was down at work (Sigh^4), taking a long lunch to deal with shipping issues, wasn't as much of a wasted day as I would have initially thought. I began by taking my paperwork to the warehouse foreman. He confirmed my stuff had been unloaded and I was shown the pallet by the customs inspector. He cursorily looked at my still wrapped pallet, asked me if I had any firearms and then signed off on the inspection.

I then had to go back to the first office, show them the signed off inspection, pay $5 and they gave me a clearance form. I then had to take the clearance form to the port authority and they signed the clearance form. Sigh x 5. Then I took that stack of paperwork back to the warehouse foreman and he forklifted the pallet over to my car. I then unwrapped the pallet with the assistance of a USDA inspector who had attended my barbecue a few weeks ago and loaded my boxes, coolers and bikes into the car. A trip home and all the items were loaded into our living room. Now we just need to unpack...

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.