A Fully Loaded Weekend (Written 1/10/06)

My first great home cooked meal

Hello everybody! Long time, no update. This weekend was jam packed full of goodness – most of it dealing with hanging out with other volunteers before we start our real lives in Samoa. The more I get into this adjustment period, the better I feel about staying here – once you get settled where you are going to be for 2 years its much easier to remain determined to stay there for 2 years. Anyway, on Friday I had my first house guest come over and that was a surprise – mostly because where I live is not very close to town so I was really expecting to get my first house guest in June when the next group of volunteers come in – but we Group 75ers are close. So Josh was staying with me for the weekend because he’s bored at home and decided to basically spend some time in Apia to break up the monotony and to see where people live. So I was his last stop before leaving for Savaii. Julya and Holly came over to show me how to cook some basic items – as shown in the picture, I think we did a pretty good job. There’s chicken, vegetables and mash potatoes – it’s probably the best meal that will ever be cooked here, but we’ll see! Charles also came over to hang out for a bit, so I had a full table at my house for the first time ever – it was kind of a surreal experience. But it was great to have people over and to show someone where I will be living for 2 years (the part of the house I live, none of our group saw during the FiaFia – so it was their first time seeing it).

On Saturday, Josh and I woke up and headed to the Kofi Haus to watch the NFL Wild Card games and that place is definitely becoming one of my favorite hang out places – the atmosphere is great, the owner is nice and the customers are fun to talk to and hang out with. The fact that we can watch NFL, NCAA and NBA games with them isn’t to shabby as well. The games started at 10:30am my time, so we had to get up early and actually see the games. But once we got there we stayed there and missed a torrential down pour that made it look like a cyclone was about to blow through. It was so windy that the rain was actually blowing sideways. On Sunday, we also watched the wild card games and when the games were over we went to the Peace Corps office and then back home. Bryan biked up to my house and he concurred with me that the road to my house is very much a challenge to bike up – and he likes to bike a lot. He’s a much better biker then me, so if he says it’s a challenge – woo nelly! J So what I have determined is that if I want anyone to come visit me, I have to have Josh around – he’s my lucky charm. Also on Sunday I saw my first cruise ship in Samoa – but it was docked on a Sunday. There is NOTHING going on in Apia on Sundays, no shops are open and restaurants don’t open until 5pm – so those poor folks getting off the cruise ship have nothing to do. It was the weirdest site. But it was cool to see how big it was – not something you can see everyday in Tennessee. It basically rained cats, dogs, kitchen sinks, boats, buckets and everything else during the weekend so we stayed in a lot and went through the entire first season of Nip/Tuck – a great show if you haven’t watched it yet.

Overall, it was a fun weekend of just hanging out and making this place feel more like home. The only thing that doesn’t make it feel like home is the fact that I actually have to learn how to cook – if you ever think about joining the Peace Corps, definitely spend a few months before coming learning how to cook basic food items. Because things that are cheap in America, are definitely not cheap in other countries. The only exception to that rule – world wide – is Ramen. God Bless Ramen! J L8r.