The Medal Rush (Written 9/1/07)

So yesterday was a pretty laid back day for the most part. Instead of just spending time at home, relaxing the day away I decided it was time for me to get out and actually do something slightly productive. I spent about half the day with Eugene's kids – Shaka and Eva – just playing a little Playstation2 with them. They are usually just sitting at home doing nothing, so it was a good time for all involved and it was definitely good to feel the sensation of a PS2 controller in my hands – only a few more months till that piece of Americana is back in my possession. After doing that, I biked home real quick and took a shower before heading out the door again to go to the weekly youth meeting at Peace Chapel – The Connexion. It has been a few weeks since I have been there due to the COS conference and the Vanuatu team last week, so it was a very much missed part of my spiritual walk. After being gone for 2 weeks, the kids were still as accepting as they have always been and I didn't feel to out of place. We talked about obedience to God and what that is suppose to look like.

Once the Connexion was done, Sara, Brianna and I headed up to the Faleata Sports area to catch a little basketball. This was my first time going up to the Sports Complex area since the games started and it was amazingly busy for night time. The game we saw was Samoa vs. Guam and we arrived with 4:35 minutes left in the 4^th quarter – basically the best time to show up (and the fact that we didn't have to pay to get in also added to the enjoyment of the event). The gym was relatively full – especially for a game that a lot of people in Samoa don't watch or care about. It was a real back and forth battle between Guam and Samoa, but the big difference came with Guam being able to not only hit all their free throws but also had good shooting from the field. In the end, both teams were separated by 3 points and Samoa had a shot but missed and the final score was Guam 76 / Samoa 73. It was actually the first time I have seen Samoa lose during the SPG so that was an interesting experience – it didn't feel like folks were to heart broken about the loss. It was only like the opening round or something like that, so no medals or anything was on the line.

I also found out yesterday that the Samoan Mixed Touch Rugby team won gold on Thursday and Fila was a part of that team – meaning that Fila is now a gold medalists and she has a silver and gold medal from the SPG. Another person who goes to Peace Chapel, Karl Adams, received a bronze medal in bodybuilding (and I saw a picture of him today in the newspaper – bodybuilding is not a pretty activity folks). Last but certainly not least, the Prime Minister of Samoa received a silver medal in archery. It's a historic moment in the SPG because I believe that Samoa's Prime Minister is the first head of government to ever participate and win in the South Pacific Games. That's it, that's all folks!

One last thing, just in case you're thinking of joining the Peace Corps - know this: when you in a country, you only get the holidays off that are valid in that country - which means I won't be taking Monday off (even though I'm already on holiday). I just bring this up because Labor Day is the start of the NFL and College football season (always a great time) and is the 2nd to last American holiday I will miss before coming home. As of today, I've got a little under 2 and a half months left. The clock is ticking!