Weekend Adventures

This weekend a group of us went to Aunu'u, a small island 3km off the southern coast of Tutuila.

The ferries that go back and both between the islands. Tutuila is in the background.



The Brownies on the boat over to Aunu'u:




Oscar (the Argentinean), Liz (the Australian), and my old roomie:



American Samoa has more churches than anywhere I have ever been. Even Aunu'u which is home to about 50 people has a church!



Our first view of Aunu'u:



This trail goes around the entire island:



We took a wrong turn and discovered this:



And then on our way back to the trail we found this:



And then we went swimming:

Update

I have completely fallen behind on updating this mainly because I recently moved and I am still waiting for the internet to be installed at my new house. I absolutely loved my little house up in the mountains but unfortunately my roommates had three cats and in the end my allergies got the best of me and I realized I needed to move. I am now living in an adorable little yellow house down by the water. Almost all of my neighbors are either people I work with or people I knew prior to my move so it's been a really easy transition. I am going to miss my roommates but in the end I think this is going to be for the best. Plus now I get to share my house with bats, mice, ants, and about a million geckos that like to fall from the ceiling into the sink while I am brushing my teeth! If anything will wake you up in the morning it is a gecko staring at you as you reach to rinse off your toothbrush. I have also heard stories about the infamous giant centipedes but fortunately I have not had any encounters...yet!

In other news, this week I got to spend a day at the environmental summer camp being hosted by several environmental agencies on the island. Both SeeSeei and Alyssa were helping to run free workshops for children 8-14 to educate them about environmental threats to American Samoa. Here are some pictures from the camp:

A junior counselor who has attended the camp in years past teaching campers about Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary (where I work):


SeeSeei and Sole (a colleague from work) using a chocolate cake with M&Ms to tech campers about the effect of depositing garbage in wetlands:


Alyssa and me:


Alyssa (playing "the ocean") and Derek demonstrating how polyps eat by throwing cereal at children (playing a "coral reef"):

Church, Samoan Style

This morning I had one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life, I attended a Samoan Baptist Church Service with SeeSeei and her family. Everything in Samoa is closed on Sunday so you basically have two choices: stay home or go to church. I chose the latter. When I arrived at the church, the entire congregation was on their feet singing and dancing to electronic guitar, synthesizer, and drum play traditional music...I could tell right away this was going to be my kind of thing. There was a brief sermon but for the most part it was all about the music. Everyone was dressed to the nine in their newest pulatasi's (traditional dresses). SeeSeei and I even had matching dresses made for the occasion! The entire event was one big celebration of friends, family, and life and I felt so fortunate to be a part of it! After church there was an enormous feast to celebrate the recent high school graduates and father's day. Here are some pictures from the event:

Catrina, Jen, this one's for you:



The kids are trying to teach me to count to ten in Samoan:



Group shot:



Chillin in the kitchen:



The graduates:



SeeSeei and I:



Eating:

A word about my job...

I realized I haven't really written much about my job here. I am working for NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary program as a fellow. Currently there is only one National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa located on the island of Tutuila. NOAA is interested in developing a National Marine Sanctuary Network that extends throughout the American Samoan Archipelago. My job is to conduct a socioeconomic analysis to identify the variables that would could impact the success of this expansion. I will work with SeeSeei to develop a survey to distribute to local villages. Since my Samoan has not accelerated quite as quickly as I had hoped (i'm only up to about 10 words!) SeeSeei will mainly be responsible for the village visits and I will focus on the statistical analysis (which would be a lot easier if Matt had ever given me his book!). Thank goodness for Aimee Barnes and her wise insight into the daunting world of survey analysis last year! Other than that I help out with a lot of things around the office and eat far too much of my boss's wonderful baking (today we had banana bread!). We share an office with the coastal management program and we are located in the executive office building in downtown Pago Pago (the same building as the Governor!). Most importantly however, I work right across from the boat house where I go out paddling on outrigger canoes in the afternoon. Life is good!

Pictures!

This is my house. I live with two girls. Alyssa did the peace corps in Namibia and works at the Coral Reef Advisory Group in my building. Barbara is italian and works at the EPA as a GIS specialist studying water issues.



This is the view from my window. We live about half way up a hill overlooking the ocean. The area is full of vegetation and the views are breathtaking.



This is my bedroom. Right before I moved in, Barbara attempted to paint the room "sea harbor blue" because the name appealed to her. She now affectionately refers to the color as "smurf blue." I don't care what it's called...I think it's great!



And this is my new car!! It's a 1999 Ford Contour but I keep forgetting so when people ask me what kind of car I have I answer "silver!" I am absolutely in love!!

One Week Anniversary

My first week has been absolutely incredible. It would take me entirely too long to recount everything that I have done so for now I'll leave you with this. SeeSeei and I have been exploring the island and visiting sites to gain a better understanding of the coastal areas. On wednesday we were returning from the east end of the island and stopped by her brother's high school graduation party. This past week was "graduation week" in American Samoa and all of the schools hosted extremely elaborate ceremonies. Most of the graduations were broadcasted on television and the governor spoke at all of the events. The "graduation party" was a BBQ on the beach with her entire extended family. I was a little startled when I was handed a plate with 2 jumbo sized hotdogs, 4 large pieces of chicken, 2 very large pieces of turkey, 2 pieces of fried pork fat, fried rice with an egg on top, rice noodles with pork, 2 slices of pizza hut pizza, and an enormous serving of rice! I couldn't believe my eyes. The whole graduation party was watching me enthusiastically to ensure that I enjoyed every bite and so as not to disappoint, I proceeded to eat my entire plate of food. This wasn't actually that difficult since everything tasted phenomenal! However just as I was eating my last bite, SeeSeei's mother put another piece of chicken on my plate. At this point I completely panicked and SeeSeei must have seen the fear in my eyes because she took the opportunity to tell me that it was ok to take the food home. Apparently it is customary to send people home with food that they can give to their families. Turns out I was never expected to finish my first portion and they were only giving me more food to make sure I had enough to bring home!! Needless to say I felt a little silly!

The first 48 hours...

It has been two days since my wonderful Italian roommate picked me up at Pago Pago International Airport and I cannot believe how much has happened. In addition to finally getting my drivers license, I have met dozens of people, written a project proposal, gone canoeing withe the EPA canoe team, moved into my adorable house, gone on about a million errands, and eaten some great food! While I am here, I will be working with a local Samoan College student named Seeseei to review past interviews, distribute surveys, and write socioeconomic valuation of the marine sanctuary. She has promised to help me learn to speak Samoan but so far my vocabulary is limited to talofa (hello), fa'amolemole (please), and fa'afetai (thank you). The girl sitting next to me on the airplane told me that if I mispronounce fa'afetai I am actually saying something rude. I'm not sure if she was telling me the truth but so far I have avoided saying thank you in Samoan! This Friday several people from my office are going on a sight tour to Fagatele Bay. Hopefully I can remember to take my camera...