kava

After one week in Samoa, I have begun to adjust to life in the pacific. I have moved into campus at USP (university of the south pacific) and I live a house with 4 girls from Fiji. My roommates are incredibly sweet and generous-they always invite me to eat with them and share any of their food. Sharing food is something that comes naturally to people in Samoa, hospitality is extended even to strangers. I have my own room, and I share my room with an army of ants, who i constantly battle over rights to my peanut butter and honey. At night geckoes wiggle across my ceiling and walls, i like to watch them as i go to sleep. My roomates love music, espeically music at high volumes, so there is always something playing-day or night. They really like soft traditional Fijian music (my personal favorite) or sometimes some 80's R&B and even a little taylor swift. In this first week I battled my first samoan flu. It was a nice little stomach flu-meets regular flu-meets general fatigue and exhaustion-kind of cold. Seven other members of my group came down with the same thing, so we all laid around and suffered together. My group is my support system here, and we are all learning and experiencing together, which is nice. We washed our own laundry the other day. Handwashing laundry is a LOT harder than it looks. After scrubbing for an hour I was dripping with sweat-but it was kind of nice to use a little elbow grease and feel self sufficient. A few of us used a scrubbing board that was in the sink...however, i learned today that in fact that is not a scrubbing board but rather a cutting board for chicken...suprise! Despite the satisfaction of hard work and feeling self sufficient, I think ill pay the 2 tala (1 dollar) to have my laundry washed next time...
I attended my first kava ceremony...We went with our Fijian friends to a house off campus. There we all sat in a circle and the host explained to us the history of the ceremony and his village. Before drinking the kava you clap once, say bula, and drink it all in one gulp. When you are done you clap three times. Each person takes turns and the cup is refilled and passed around the circle. You sit cross legged, and if you want a small cup you request a "low tide" or if you are brave and want a big cup you say "tsunami!"...I went with low tide. At first the kava makes your tongue feel numb, and then after a few cups you feel relaxed and sleepy. Our host explained the kava ceremony is more about socializing, telling stories, and listening than it is about drinking the kava. Kava ceremonies help resolve disputes between families, greet strangers, send off relatives  and offer a forum to discuss issues in a village. The kava itself tastes like chalky, earthy water. I wouldnt call it a good taste, but it isnt too bad either...
Each day here is never the same, sometimes we have classes, sometimes we go into Apia (the city) and shop or look around or eat. Its hard to desribe my routine, because i really dont have one-which i love.
Learning samoan has proven to be most difficult. We have language class for 2 hours every day-and by the end of class my head is spinning. We (are supposed to know how to) make full sentences in the past presenet and future...but im still taking the whole learning process at nice, slow pace...
Talofa-hello (formal, when you say hello for the first time)
Malo- hello (more casual, use it on the street to greet people)
O lo'u igoa 'o Hannah ma 'o lo'u atunu'u 'o Amerika (thats my name is hannah and i am from America)
More samoan language to come once i figure it out....
Yesterday I spent the day with Zoe at a beach fale. We did our homework in a fale and laid out in the sun. When we got bored of homework we went snorkeling, then read our books under some coconut trees. Thats a pretty average weekend day-and i really cant complain, its pretty awesome.
The food, however, is no so awesome. We eat wheat bix, peanut butter, white bread and coconut. There are few fruits, almost no veggies, and absolutly no dairy...but if you go to the market you can drink a coconut with a straw and snack on some bananna chips-which is pretty cool. Here samoans eat green banannas, so yellow banannas (the kind we like) are only 1 tala which makes for a super cheap snack! Its interesting how different cultures prefer to eat foods in different ways...
Next week we are spending 10 days in a village with a family. Ill keep you posted.
Buggs