It's hard to believe that it's been almost a week since Mom left. She did make it back safely to the states (with only a little hiccup), so now I begin the last 7 months of my time in Samoa fully re-energized and ready to go. So what have I been up to since mom left? Glad you asked…
On Tuesday morning (after saying goodbye to Mom), Julya stayed at my place and I woke up at around 5am in order to drive her to the bus stop so that she could catch the 8am boat. So basically I relived the beginning of the Mom Adventure all over again (having to wake up at an early time, drive somewhere on little sleep). After dropping her off, I promptly went back to bed and was out for a good couple of hours. I think all the running around with mom finally caught up with me because I was really tired for some unknown reason. Unfortunately, the last vestige of the Mom Adventure – the rental car – had to be returned on Tuesday. I was very sad to see my white Tucson – whom I have grown very fond of over the past 2 weeks – back at the rental car place. Fortunately, there were no scratches or any other problem with the car so officially 'The Mom Adventure' ended in a 'happily ever after' fashion. Once I dropped off the car, I went to my tutoring session for the Fa'atuatua kids. They are part of the worship team at church and would be heading to New Zealand for a 2 week tour starting on Thursday night/Friday morning, so they had to take their mid term exams early. I'm the last class they have in the day, so after taking 2-3 2hr exams they were pretty tired once they got to me but after a little while the session finally picked up and I felt they were adequately prepared for their test the next day. Once I got back home later that night, I crashed at about 8pm – I was bound and determined to get at least 7 hours of sleep in my own bed after sleeping in it about 2 times over the past 2 weeks.
On Wednesday, I woke up refreshed after a good 7-8 hour rest and decided I needed to run to some time to get some errands done. Because of the Malietoa's funeral service on Thursday and Friday, Wednesday was the last time businesses would be open until Saturday. I left the house early in the morning and was fortunate enough to get a free ride into town from Father Pio, thus avoiding having to wait an hour for the bus to show up. Once I ran all my errands, it was time to take my first bus ride in 2 weeks – it was definitely as uncomfortable and cramped as I remembered it (my knees were definitely missing the car at this point). This was only the 5th time I've taken a bus that wasn't my own in this country – it's such a nerve wrecking affair since there are no prices written on the bus (so unless you ask the person you're going to visit how much it costs to get out to them, you have no idea how much your destination will cost) and since there are no defined 'bus stops' you're never quite sure where you need to get off in order to reach your destination. But I made it safely to St Joseph's college to hang out with Ryan/Charles/Holly for a bit of time – along with their new puppy. After spending some quality times with the gang, Vivienne picked me up and I went over to her house for the Fa'atuatua tutoring session. So basically, I had been over to Paul/Vivienne's house everyday for 4 days straight – I literally felt like I was a part of the family at that point. Once the kids were done, I just hung around the house for a bit until it was time to go to church later that night.
While I was there, APS (Animal Protection Society) – which is unofficially the only vet service in Samoa – came over to have a look at one of Matilda's dogs (his name was Skippy) who had not been eating and rarely moved. They said he had cancer all over and was suffering, so Matilda let them put him to sleep. It was quite an emotional moment because Skippy had been in the family for 15 years (seeing all 4 kids grow up, just missing out on kid number 5). After she cried for a bit, she let Junior (her uncle) and I bury the dog in a nearby field – so this was the first grave I've ever had to bury (human or animal) so I didn't really know what I was doing (yes – I know you 'just make a hole in the ground' but the ground is amazingly tough and resilient sometimes, especially when it's made from lava rock and coral). So we ended up burying the dog in the pouring rain but at least it wasn't hot which was a nice change. Later on Wednesday night, the bible study groups gathered at the church for a special service to see the Worship team off for their trip to New Zealand (they're doing a series of concerts in Auckland and Wellington over the next two weeks). It was a good time of fellowship and praying over the worship team before they headed off on their journey. It was at church that I met Sara's mom who flew in on Wednesday morning (she flew in on the airplane that my mom flew out on – though they did not meet in the airport) – Sara told me that Janita helped pick up her mom at 5:45am (thus avoiding having to rent a car like I did).
It was quite easy to see the resemblance between Sara and her mom, both physically and personality wise. She's a very nice lady and since they're staying at Insel Fehrman, I know she's experiencing the best Samoa has to offer. At around 9pm – even after getting almost a full day's rest in Samoa – the jet lag finally hit Sara's mom and she got tired (similar to what happened to my mom on the first night she arrived). So if you're flying from the States to Samoa you're almost guaranteed to need a good 8 hours of sleep – at night – in order to adjust to Samoan time. Paul and Viv took me home on Wednesday night and that's basically where I've been until today (Sunday). Thursday and Friday were dedicated to the Malietoa's funeral and everything was shut down…so if I wanted to see the events I would have to bike into and out of town (no buses were running as far as I know) and I just wasn't feeling that after experiencing the good life of having a car in this country. I was planning on going into town for a little bit on Saturday, but Mother Nature decided Samoa needed a torrential downpour so it literally rained all day (if Mom and Julya's parents thought the rain they got during their time here was bad, it was nothing compared to the sheets of water coming down from the sky on Saturday). This was the type of rain usually reserved for January and February – during the 'Wet' season of Samoa. We are now in the 'Dry' season and it's not suppose to rain as often as it has…must be this global warming business. So after driving all over Samoa for 2 weeks, I spent 3 days just relaxing and getting my mind in the right place for the start of school.
I was finally ready to get out of my hermit ways on Sunday when I biked to church (and thus beginning the countdown to 100 trips up and down Mt. Doom). The weather was perfect, you could hardly tell how much it poured on Saturday – heck it didn't rain at all on Sunday. Once I got back to the house, I did a few chores around the place and thought everything was ready for Monday. But what would a season of the MJ Adventure be without at least one surprise. I talked to Kevin and found out that some members of the PTA came up to the school on Saturday (yes – the same Saturday that had biblical sized rain fall) and changed the locks on some of the classroom doors. One of the locks they changed was the one on the door to computer lab 4 (our newest computer lab…although it has no comps in it right now, they should be here by next week….hopefully) which already had a new lock. All the computer labs (before this fiasco) were opened by one master key which made it very simple for me so I didn't have to mess with 4 different keys to open the locks. And you may ask 'How did they get in without having a key?' the answer is I have no earthly idea (and neither does Kevin, they did this without asking him) so now we have to find out if they still have the old locks and have them put it back on so we can use 1 key instead of having 2 different keys. Ahh…yes, a little unexpected change, a little tension and a countdown – sounds like the MJ Adventure is back in full swing! Excelsior!
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