Malo!
We've just gotten back from a short trip to American Samoa, an island territory of the US floating around in the South Pacific. With an extremely unique blend of the fa'asamoa (Samoan lifestyle) and mainstream US culture, it's crazy to think that so many US citizens don't even know it exists!
When we got off the plane (a 16-passenger plane--our group had to split into two flights!) in the tiny airport, we immediately started noticing the American influence and the little things that reminded us of home. The first for me was that the airport bathroom had American toilets! And soap! and a hand dryer! And there was a water fountain with drinkable water where I could fill up my bottle! And then, when I thought my first ten minutes back in the US couldn't get much better, I was greeted by a giant Ford advertisement and a US veteran pride painted bus. The seats in the bus were even cushioned, as opposed to the wooden-seated buses in Samoa.
We ventured over to American Samoa Community College, where everyone in our group had a homestay sibling waiting. My 19-year-old sister, Yvonne, had actually attended two years
of middle school and all of high school in Los Angeles and completed a
year at Sacramento Community College! It was pretty funny to be able to
sit around talking about Los Angeles with her at this point in the semester;
just as I'm really beginning to feel how far I am from home, American
Samoa comes along to convince me otherwise.
Yvonne and I got along fantastically, and it was much easier to talk to my homestay family and the ASCC students than my family in Lotofaga because most people spoke English pretty well. We learned that we both love hot sauce and have a tendency to steal packets of it from restaurants, neither of us really likes tomatoes all that much, and we both like to dance to music on the radio. She lived in a two-story house across the street from the beach with her aunt, cousin (Jennifer), and her cousin's two-year-old daughter (Snow White--named for the fact that she was born in Virginia on a snowy day).
My first night in their home, I felt like I had never been to a nicer house. Yvonne showed me upstairs to my room, which was all mine and had two queen-size beds! They had a real kitchen, with a fridge, a stove (albeit electric), and everything! The fact that the water only worked downstairs, the air conditioning, television, and certain lights were just for show (they'd been broken for years), and the one shower had no shower head had no influence on how luxurious and extravagant I thought it was. When I noticed these small details, it was more of an observation than even a slight annoyance. Jennifer had set the table with a small sign that read, "Welcome to the Pritt's Residence!" and cooked a feast of chop suey, sausage and onions, rice, fried fish, and boiled bananas. My aunt had to go to bingo immediately after dinner (she went EVERY night, as all the women in her church do--a very Samoan thing to do; there are bingo supply stores everywhere!), but Jennifer, Yvonne and I sat around for hours just talking. Most of the conversation consisted of their entire dating histories, and the dating histories of all those involved. I heard all about their current boyfriends and we stayed up way too late just having girl talk.
I then stayed up for another few hours because I wanted to finish Those Who Do Not Grieve, a book by Samoan author Sia Figiel (whose novel Where We Once Belonged won the Commonwealth Prize), who we were meeting the next day. Although I'd already read two of her other novels, I wanted to gobble up as much of her incredibly unique and provocative prose before hearing her speak. After a morning lecture and an elei-print lavalava making session, we finally got to meet her. She was as much of a character as her writing suggested (if not more so), and she signed two of her books for me! Of course, I now just want to take a writing class next semester.
Highlights of the rest of the week included a kava ceremony at the college, a cultural exchange in which we performed a Samoan siva (dance) and received three in return from the fa'asamoa club, a hike to Fagatele Bay Marine Sanctuary (the largest and only one below the equator, apparently), and a trip to a supermarket where I actually found matzoh in the darkest, dustiest corner of the store! It's not actually kosher for passover, but seeing as it's definitely the closest I'm gonna get, I'm just going to pretend.
There were, however, some more thought-provoking aspects of the visit. One topic my group seems to love debating is the military involvement on the island--although citizens of American Samoa are not citizens of the US, there is still a very high percentage of youth joining the military for the educational opportunities. Another is the prevalence of fast food and the sky-high rates of obesity and diabetes; most homestay families assumed we all ate fast food for every meal and junk food for snacks in between (I was even forced to eat KFC for lunch one day. I don't think I've ever felt more nauseous at the thought of just eating something.). Education is also a concern as there is only one community college and no other opportunities on-island for higher education. I also had some really interesting conversations about what people thought of American Samoa versus Western Samoa and whether they felt it was a positive or negative to be a territory of the US.
On the flight out I got one last view of the stunning mountain peaks and the completely undeveloped north side of the island. American Samoa may have been even more beautiful landscape-wise than Savai'i.
On Sunday, a group of us continued the pampering feeling and indulged in the breakfast buffet at Aggie Grey's, the nicest hotel in Apia. We then lounged around the pool and felt like kings before coming home and preparing for the school week. We are supposed to go to Fiji on Saturday, but there is horrible flooding, so we're not sure it will work out. Look out for updates!
Tofa!
-Leah
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