At the conference we got an update from Kim (our country director) about things happening in the Peace Corps organization. The most interesting thing was that at the time that she made the slideshow presentation – PC Samoa had 2 married couples, but we're now down to only 1 and for a good period of time, there were more women volunteers here than men, but that all changed with the overabundance of men in group 77 (12 guys and 4 girls). After that we had a medical update (Dengue fever has arrived in Samoa – so we gotta be diligent with the mosquito repellant) and a security update. Then came a little staff appreciation part where Group 77 was asked to come up with an item to do at to show their appreciation for the trainers. They came up with a pretty sweet rendition of Hotel California called "Welcome to the Village Ma'asina". It's hard to describe, but it was top notch stuff. After that, we had some more items but there were two important items we talked about: 1) was an art mural for Peace Corps Samoa to submit for the One Mile Art Mural Project to be shown in Egypt in 2010 (I think) – the year of Peace (although I have no idea what that means, maybe that's the year we'll win the War on Terror) and 2) telling the volunteers about the ideas that have been developed for Peace Corps Samoa's 40th Anniversary next year (1967-2007). One of the things I 'volunteered' to do was come up with a logo for the 40th anniversary (I'm not a slogan maker) so what I came up with was using the Fantastic Four version of the 4 and using the Peace Corps Logo as a 0. I might post it to my photo album so you have some idea of what I'm talking about. I also came up with a design that used the Peace Corps Logo as the O in Samoa which a lot of people liked. So we'll see if they use my design or not. The other part of the conference I was responsible for was the slideshow which was a pretty interesting task – with only about 60 something volunteers plus staff it wasn't that hard to get pictures of everybody BUT since you usually have more then one person in picture during a slideshow, there were a ton of people who kept showing up all the time (and it's one of those things you recognize only after you've completed it) but I did get almost all the volunteers in it (minus one person) so overall it was a pretty good success and everyone liked it. As always, I'm my own worst critic. We also elected new people to our Volunteer Action Committee – Holly is now the president, so Group 75 is now in power! Woohooo! The last part of the day was the volunteer appreciation where the staff do/give something nice to/for the volunteers. This year, all the volunteers (including group 77) got All-Vol Conference t-shirts with the Peace Corps logo on the back. It was a very nice gesture and everyone here is very receptive to receiving as much free clothing as possible. After the conference, we played a rousing game of softball with the volunteers, trainees and Samoans. The Samoans especially liked playing in the outfield, so it was an all around good time.
The next day (Saturday) we celebrated Thanksgiving at the US Consulate here in Samoa. But before I get to that, let me tell you how my morning went. I woke up around 8:00am and started to notice that there were quite a lot of cars and people moving around the school area. Now, on Saturday morning Chanel held an entrance exam for students that might be considering coming to this school next year starting in Year 9 (Freshmen). So at first I was like 'Hmmm…well, they'll just do their test and be out of here. No reason for me to hurry out of the house." So I took my dear time and decided to see if anyone needed my help at around 8:30am. As soon as I walked down my steps, I saw Father Kevin who was trying to get my attention. Now keep in mind – I'm still kind of waking up, it's a Saturday and I'm in a relaxed mood despite all the people around me. That's when Kevin tells me that they have opened all 3 of the computer labs and let these new kids inside to get their hands on the computers. I went from relaxed to tense in about 0.2 seconds! Basically bowling over kids to get to the computer labs, I came to the first computer lab and you would have thought you were at an amusement park the amount of kids in that space were just overwhelming. Fortunately, there was someone in each of the rooms to watch the students BUT since these kids on the computers were new they didn't know what they were allowed to do and not do – so a lot of my time in the first few minutes was making sure the kids weren't damaging the operating system. To tell you how many kids were trying to get into these labs – there was a line going outside each of the labs. A queue like you would see at an amusement park – just to get into one of the computer labs. Unbelievable! Fortunately, once the test started the kids left and I was able to instill some kind of order within the labs and make sure they weren't dying from the sudden shock. After about an hour (after the first exam), the kids came back and it was just full on preventing the kids from doing a lot of damage. It felt like I was in a heavyweight bout – I'd fix one problem and then another one would pop up, I would try to stop another problem from occurring but then some kid would find a way to get around it. This kept going on from the moment I arrived at the labs (8.30am) to when I finally had to close the labs in order to make it into town (12:30pm). 4 hours straight of just non stop tension and worrying – on a Saturday when I didn't expect it. I think those 4 hours shaved about a day off my life! Anyway, after closing the labs – I tried to race down to the PC Office in order to get a ride to the Thanksgiving meal.
As I said before, we celebrated Thanksgiving at the US Consulate home here in Samoa (it's the same place we had it last year when I was a trainee). It was a good time of just hanging out with all the volunteers from Upolu and Savaii that I don't get a chance to see all that often and the food was just amazing – there was so much of it. It was pot luck style (except the trainees didn't have to bring any food obviously) and fortunately I got someone else to cook for me – otherwise I would have had no time today to make anything. I honestly did not think I would be as busy as I ended up being. At the Thanksgiving meal, the guests and volunteers put the foot/hand paint print on the Art Mural that was talked about at the AVC (All Vol Conference) and the kids definitely loved that part – a legitimate reason to get paint on your body! So if this thing does actually get some worldwide attention on 2010 – you know when those hand/foot prints were made! I bet you're saying to yourself – "Marques, since you celebrated Thanksgiving – tell me what you're thankful for." Hahaha….no, not yet. We may celebrate Thanksgiving on a weekend but I gotta save something for the actual Thanksgiving day. After the thanksgiving meal, Sara and I went to Peace Chapel to help with some of the decoration of the hall. Starting this Tuesday, Peace Chapel will hold a women's conference (the first ever in Samoa) for women of all denominations in Samoa and from NZ and Hawaii. It's been a massive undertaking – months in the making – and it's only a few days away. The hall has been transformed to look like a palace of sorts with the two colors of the event – purple and white – strewn about the place. The theme of the conference is "Daughters of the King" and takes it idea of raising women up from the story of Esther in the bible. There will be speakers and meetings and all that good stuff. But the crown jewel of the event takes place on Friday night when there will be a banquet for the women where they will literally dress up like princesses for the night and – another first for Samoa – men will be serving the women! Shocking! Anyway, for this night the best part about it will be that the place will be lit up by a massive chandelier that was created by our PCMO's husband. It is simply amazing and beautiful – I'll try to take a picture of it – and it will knock the socks off all the women who come that night. There will also be a play version of the Esther story – so it's going to be a very eventful night. But it all started with massive preparation and transforming the church this weekend.
And that's just another 48 hours in Samoa! This is also the start of the last week of school (Yippee!) but classes are done for now, but I've still got a few items to clean up. Almost there though, almost there….
PS – On Sunday, I rode up and down Mount Doom for the 50th time!
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