american samoa

After spending 3 days in American Samoa, I am happy to be back. We took a teeny, tiny 16 person plane from Samoa (called Western/Indepedent Samoa) to American Samoa. The view on the 30 minute plane ride was spectacular- you could see the entire island, the reefs and the open ocean- I even saw a huge whale! American Samoa's geography looks very similar to Western Samoa, plus the "luxuries" of American culture-including: KFC, McDonalds, Cost-U-Less (likes Costco), Pizza Hut and all the candy bars and junk food available in the States. In fact, American Samoan's pride themselves on their American fast food, and as a result we ate fast food for ever single meal. Because I am not a fast food fanatic (in fact, I really dislike fast food) eating McMuffins for breakfast, fried chicken for lunch and burgers for dinner was slightly painful. The living conditions in American Samoa span a wide range. Some peope stayed with families in "palagi houses" (two story, concrete houses that look like ones from the States). However, I stayed in small house on the beach- our kitchen was outside, there was no running water so we bathed in a bucket, and we slept on the floor. We ate McDonlands, with extra Mayo, and Top Ramen for our meals. Oh, I also rode around the entire island in the back of the pickup truck. My host sister (who i loved) woke me up at 5 AM so we could tour the entire island (which takes only 45 minutes) before I left.
In class, we listened to speakers discusses Samoan music, the matai system (the village form of governance and order), archeology and history of the islands. We even made our own lavalavas in a traditional samoan art class! We also hiked up a stream using ropes to climb up sheer rock- the hike was nice, but the mosquitos were fierce-and I was happy to be done. In other news, everyone is continuing to get sicknesses (mostly fevers and sore throats) and huge infected cuts and boils- all common ailments in the pacific. Im trying my best to stay healthy and keep my distance from flesh eating bacteria....