Group 76 FiaFia (Written 6/12/06)

The time had finally come…it was time for me to have my first real party at my FaleSamoa. I couldn't just invite a few people…nope, I had to invite as many Peace Corps volunteers and staff as possible! So anyway, on Saturday we had the Peace Corps FiaFia for the new group on my front porch (little did I know in October when I was at this same FiaFia that it would become my home). Amazingly, I was able to avoid meeting the new group until they came to my house – you know, meet them on my turf. This was also the first time that I actually cooked a meal for one of our big functions (I cooked something that I learned here that was pretty easy to make) so it definitely felt like a big deal. I was responsible for setting up the area and the sound system. The current volunteers showed up at my place at around 5:30pm (with a start time of 6:30) and the place just became a madhouse – it was quite fascinating to look at. For many of the volunteers not in my group, this was the first time they had been to my place since the previous volunteer left so it was interesting seeing their reaction and comments in regards to how both of us lived. People were changing for the FiaFia, cooking meals, getting all greased up – it's amazing the things you see when you go behind the scenes of something like this. Since this was the first Peace Corps FiaFia I've been to since ours in October it was just an experience seeing all the effort that actually goes into getting the event on.

 Unfortunately a lot of lessons were learned at this FiaFia to prepare for the next one in October (when the next capacity building group – like mine – comes in) and the major one was the sound. I didn't have a stereo – to – composite cable just lying around (to hook my mp3 player up to the amplifier) so we had to resort to using computer speakers and putting a mic next to it – obviously it didn't sound so great. So you live and learn! The MC's for the night were Cecilia (Group 73) and Ethan (Group 72) and they were responsible for introducing the various acts and explaining the Samoan connection. So we had the sasa, the siva teine, the slap dance, the haku paku and Maka/Robyn (Group 74) singing plus the siva afi (fire dance – done by a Samoan not a Peace Corps). During the FiaFia the new volunteers introduced themselves and we found out that quite a few of them are from the Chicago area – so I might have some people to root with me now for the Chicago teams. Josh was also happy because there's a couple of the new trainees are from Minnesota. There are also a few people from the Seattle area and one person from Texas – so this group kind of follow in our state footprints. Just to prove that this is a small world after all, one of the new trainees (Sarah – every group has a Sarah!) went to Texas A&M and was at the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 2005 which was exactly where I was! This is really starting to feel like the island on Lost!

So after the fiafia we had the potluck dinner (prepared by current volunteers and staff) and that's when I realized how good the trainees have it now, they got to go first in the eating line. From now on, I'm always going last – so they better enjoy it while they can. It was also just a good time of hanging out with the trainees and learning more about the personalities and how they are adjusting to the first few days of training and the Samoan lifestyle. I had to step back a few times and just take in how things have changed in such a short amount of time – it's only been 9 months and here we are giving advice and talking to new trainees. Amazing! Plus, we're no longer the freshmen of Peace Corps Samoa, we're sophomores now!

After the official fiafia dinner was over, then came the fiafia afterparty and it was a very interesting time. It was also the time when I scored all the leftover food and that's what's really important (trumped only by the fact that the trainees had fun). I'll see them one more time and odds are I won't encounter them again until they are sworn in as volunteers (this group – 76 – is village based and coastal management so I won't be involved in their training to much once they go to the village, which will be this upcoming Saturday). Hopefully all 16 of the trainees will make it to August (when they swear in) but we shall see. One fiafia down, 3 more to go! L8r.