First Impressions

Okay. Well. I just finished the first complete day of the program and I think it is safe to say that I'm in the honeymoon stage of my WorldTeach American Samoa Year program. So far the group seems awesome, the field director seems lovely, the island seems friendly and beautiful and non-threatening. I am sure that some of this will change, but right now I am going to preserve the optimism of the moment and hope that nothing will. We got in at 9:30 Samoan time last night, to be welcomed by a group of WorldTeach staff with a banner and shell necklaces- it may sound silly, but that small gesture really alleviated a lot of the tension that I felt about actually reaching the destination of my life for the next year.
Anyway, after everyone was rounded up through customs, adorned with our shells and herded back into a group, we embarked. We got taken on a schoolbus to our destination for Orientation, which turned out to be Nuuuli (yes, three u's) Vocational Technical High School, home of the apparently sub-average Wildcats, and by some stroke of cosmic luck, the school I will actually be teaching in for the next year. It's not super impressive by American standards, but its clean and well-cared for and fits all our needs nicely. We are on the second floor of one of the school buildings. The 17 girls are in 2 rooms ( foam mattresses about a foot and a half apart on the floor are our surprisingly comfortable beds), the seven guys in one, and there is a kitchen, already thoughtfully stocked by the WorldTeach staff down the hall. Since it was dark outside, I really had no idea of the surrounding area, and after what was probably the most refreshing shower of my life (shared with two other girls no less), I and everyone else succumbed to our exhaustion.
Whether because of the time difference or just the strange kinetic energy of being in a new place was the reason, pretty much all the girls and one lone male, Matt, woke up around six, before the scheduled alarms and plans. The sun was starting to rise and the site was incredibly different from the murky blackness of the night before. Directly out our windows were mountains, rising above a turquoise lagoon- the sun was rising and the clouds above the mountains were turning a delicate shade of pink. About 7 of us decided to watch the sun rise before heading to the more mundane task of eating cheerios and figuring out what to wear in the very new climate. World Teach activities started at 8:30 with a ride to another village, where we pow-wowed under a public hut by the beach and did the standard introductory activities. At eleven, the scavenger hunt began; my group's list of activities included figuring out what maketi meant (market), what f'al were (green, starchy bananas), and discovering the going price for a bunch of them at the local maketi (5 dollars for about 30 f'al). There were a few more activities, all designed to get us familiar with the aiga system and to force us to get over our awkwardness and ask locals for help. We all met back at the high school at 4:00 PM for a two hour cultural lesson, followed by a pizza dinner and subsequent after dinner shenanigans.
Highlights of the day:

• Bananagrams at 7:30 AM.
  
• the aiga bus which played Mariah Carey, followed by Backstreet Boys, Yin Yang Twins and Soldier Boy, all at a frightening decibel level... I plan on riding aigas EVERYWHERE, if only for the music.
  
• Lunch at a local lunch spot was surprisingly tasty- I got a f'al with a pork stew and one of the guys in the group got a whole tilapia which had been fried.
• A very intense game of Catchphrase following dinner.
• The start of an Assassins game for the rest of Orientation.
• Finding out Hulu works in American Samoa.

In a word: excellent. Here's to hoping it stays that way.
Smooches,
Rosa


My Digs
Just a casual view.
On one of the aiga buses.
Nom.
My Nom.
example of the coral that is everywhere, mixed with pebbles of lava rock.